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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2021-39537

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2021-09-20
  • WeaknessCWE-787

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

An issue was discovered in ncurses through v6.2-1. _nc_captoinfo in captoinfo.c has a heap-based buffer overflow.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2021-09-2016:15CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

NVD
Apple macos
BranchAffectedFixed in
11.7= 11.7no fix published
13.0= 13.0no fix published
Apple mac os x
BranchAffectedFixed in
10.12= 10.12.6no fix published
Invisible-island ncurses
BranchAffectedFixed in
6.2≤ 6.2.1no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • ncursesUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 6.0+20160213-1ubuntu1+esm2
  • ncursesUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 6.0+20160213-1ubuntu1+esm3
  • ncursesUbuntu:Pro:14.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 5.9+20140118-1ubuntu1+esm2
  • ncursesUbuntu:Pro:14.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 5.9+20140118-1ubuntu1+esm3
  • ncursesUbuntu:22.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 6.3-2ubuntu0.1
  • ncursesUbuntu:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 6.2-0ubuntu2.1
  • ncursesUbuntu:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 6.1-1ubuntu1.18.04.1
  • ncursesTuxCare:OracleLinux:6all versions · fixed in 5.7-4.20090207.el6.tuxcare.els1and 5 other packages

35 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2021-39537 Red Hat Product Security20 known affected

    ncurses: heap-based buffer overflow in _nc_captoinfo() in captoinfo.c

    ncurses as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · ncurses-base as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · ncurses-devel as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · +17 more

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Workaround from the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2021-39537 · 27 productsDo not compile untrusted terminfo descriptions.
  2. No fix available, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2021-39537 · 8 productsFix deferred
  3. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2021-39537 · 12 productsOut of support scope

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2021-09-20
Last Modified
2026-10-08
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-v5gv-3mwr-6223

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-39537?

An issue was discovered in ncurses through v6.2-1. _nc_captoinfo in captoinfo.c has a heap-based buffer overflow.

Is CVE-2021-39537 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2021-39537 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 3.2% on 2026-11-08, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-39537?

CVE-2021-39537 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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Sources for this record