Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2021-3501

high Nessus Plugin ID 248259

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 flaw was found in the Linux kernel in versions before 5.12. The value of internal.ndata, in the KVM API, is mapped to an array index, which can be updated by a user process at anytime which could lead to an out- of-bounds write. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data integrity and system availability.
(CVE-2021-3501)

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: High

ID: 248259

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2021_3501.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/11/2025

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: 5.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Low

Base Score: 3.6

Temporal Score: 2.7

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2021-3501

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.1

Temporal Score: 6.2

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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-oracle-5.0, 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, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-riscv, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure, 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-aws-5.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-oem, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-azure-5.3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gcp-edge, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-raspi2, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-gke-4.15

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: 5/5/2021

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2021-3501

Detections

Analytics