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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2021-40491

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2021-09-03
  • WeaknessCWE-345

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

The ftp client in GNU Inetutils before 2.2 does not validate addresses returned by PASV/LSPV responses to make sure they match the server address. This is similar to CVE-2020-8284 for curl.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2021-09-0302:15CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

NVD
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
10.0= 10.0no fix published
Gnu inetutils
BranchAffectedFixed in
2.2< 2.22.2

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

  • inetutilsUbuntu:Pro:20.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:1.9.4-11ubuntu0.1+esm1
  • inetutilsUbuntu:Pro:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:1.9.4-3ubuntu0.1+esm1
  • inetutilsUbuntu:Pro:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:1.9.4-1ubuntu0.1~esm2
  • inetutilsUbuntu:Pro:14.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:1.9.2-1ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • inetutilsDebian:14all versions · fixed in 2:2.2-1
  • inetutilsDebian:13all versions · fixed in 2:2.2-1
  • inetutilsDebian:12all versions · fixed in 2:2.2-1
  • inetutilsDebian:10all versions · fixed in 2:1.9.4-7+deb10u2

Full record on NVD

Fix

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:N/A:N
Published
2021-09-03
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-qw8r-vcwc-vjc9

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-40491?

The ftp client in GNU Inetutils before 2.2 does not validate addresses returned by PASV/LSPV responses to make sure they match the server address. This is similar to CVE-2020-8284 for curl.

Is CVE-2021-40491 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2021-40491 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 1.0% on 2026-11-08, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-40491?

CVE-2021-40491 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.

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