CVE-2021-3521
4.7 · MEDIUMOverview
CVE-2021-3521 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting rpm rpm. It was published on August 22, 2022 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.7 (MEDIUM).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.7, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
There is a flaw in RPM's signature functionality. OpenPGP subkeys are associated with a primary key via a "binding signature." RPM does not check the binding signature of subkeys prior to importing them. If an attacker is able to add or socially engineer another party to add a malicious subkey to a legitimate public key, RPM could wrongly trust a malicious signature. The greatest impact of this flaw is to data integrity. To exploit this flaw, an attacker must either compromise an RPM repository or convince an administrator to install an untrusted RPM or public key. It is strongly recommended to only use RPMs and public keys from trusted sources.
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from rpm. Update rpm to the latest patched version. 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.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| rpm | rpm | >= 0, < 4.17.1 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2021-3521?
CVE-2021-3521 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting rpm rpm. It was published on August 22, 2022 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.7 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2021-3521?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.7, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2021-3521?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from rpm. Update rpm to the latest patched version. 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-2021-3521?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2021-3521 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
AI agents map your attack surface to find vulnerabilities like this one.
Automated penetration testing that runs continuously, not just quarterly.
AI-driven PR review catches vulnerable dependencies before they ship.
Browser-based exploitation validates findings with real proof-of-concept.
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