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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2021-20261

medium Nessus Plugin ID 223691

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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.

 - A race condition was found in the Linux kernels implementation of the floppy disk drive controller driver software. The impact of this issue is lessened by the fact that the default permissions on the floppy device (/dev/fd0) are restricted to root. If the permissions on the device have changed the impact changes greatly. In the default configuration root (or equivalent) permissions are required to attack this flaw.
 (CVE-2021-20261)

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

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2021-20261

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-20261

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 223691

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2021_20261.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/4/2025

Updated: 8/11/2025

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.9

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.4

Temporal Score: 3.3

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2021-20261

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.4

Temporal Score: 5.6

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

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-hwe-edge, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:centos:centos:7, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oracle-5.0, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-fde, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-aws-5.0, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-fips, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-intel-iot-realtime, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi2, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-4.15, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-realtime, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt

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

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 3/11/2021

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2021-20261