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CVE-2021-23839

3.7 · LOW

OpenSSL 1.0.2 supports SSLv2.

Published Feb 16, 2021CWE-327EPSS 2.96%

Overview

CVE-2021-23839 is a low-severity vulnerability. It was published on February 16, 2021 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 3.7 (LOW).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 3.7, rated LOW. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

Technical description

OpenSSL 1.0.2 supports SSLv2. If a client attempts to negotiate SSLv2 with a server that is configured to support both SSLv2 and more recent SSL and TLS versions then a check is made for a version rollback attack when unpadding an RSA signature. Clients that support SSL or TLS versions greater than SSLv2 are supposed to use a special form of padding. A server that supports greater than SSLv2 is supposed to reject connection attempts from a client where this special form of padding is present, because this indicates that a version rollback has occurred (i.e. both client and server support greater than SSLv2, and yet this is the version that is being requested). The implementation of this padding check inverted the logic so that the connection attempt is accepted if the padding is present, and rejected if it is absent. This means that such as server will accept a connection if a version rollback attack has occurred. Further the server will erroneously reject a connection if a normal SSLv

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-23839?

CVE-2021-23839 is a low-severity vulnerability. It was published on February 16, 2021 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 3.7 (LOW).

How severe is CVE-2021-23839?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 3.7, rated LOW. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2021-23839?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2021-23839?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2021-23839 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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