Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2021-23841

medium Nessus Plugin ID 223650

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- The OpenSSL public API function X509_issuer_and_serial_hash() attempts to create a unique hash value based on the issuer and serial number data contained within an X509 certificate. However it fails to correctly handle any errors that may occur while parsing the issuer field (which might occur if the issuer field is maliciously constructed). This may subsequently result in a NULL pointer deref and a crash leading to a potential denial of service attack. The function X509_issuer_and_serial_hash() is never directly called by OpenSSL itself so applications are only vulnerable if they use this function directly and they use it on certificates that may have been obtained from untrusted sources. OpenSSL versions 1.1.1i and below are affected by this issue. Users of these versions should upgrade to OpenSSL 1.1.1j. OpenSSL versions 1.0.2x and below are affected by this issue. However OpenSSL 1.0.2 is out of support and no longer receiving public updates. Premium support customers of OpenSSL 1.0.2 should upgrade to 1.0.2y. Other users should upgrade to 1.1.1j. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1j (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1i). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2y (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2x). (CVE-2021-23841)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 223650

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2021_23841.nasl

Version: 1.4

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/4/2025

Updated: 8/25/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3

Percentile: 23.18

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.3

Temporal Score: 3.7

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2021-23841

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.9

Temporal Score: 5.4

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:centos:centos:7, cpe:/o:centos:centos:8, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:aavmf, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:compat-openssl10, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:openssl098e, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:ovmf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:aavmf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:compat-openssl10, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssl098e, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:ovmf

Required KB Items: Host/OS/identifier, Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 2/16/2021

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2021-23841

Detections

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