Detections
Analytics

Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2021-32785

high Nessus Plugin ID 252443

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.

 - mod_auth_openidc is an authentication/authorization module for the Apache 2.x HTTP server that functions as an OpenID Connect Relying Party, authenticating users against an OpenID Connect Provider. When mod_auth_openidc versions prior to 2.4.9 are configured to use an unencrypted Redis cache (`OIDCCacheEncrypt off`, `OIDCSessionType server-cache`, `OIDCCacheType redis`), `mod_auth_openidc` wrongly performed argument interpolation before passing Redis requests to `hiredis`, which would perform it again and lead to an uncontrolled format string bug. Initial assessment shows that this bug does not appear to allow gaining arbitrary code execution, but can reliably provoke a denial of service by repeatedly crashing the Apache workers. This bug has been corrected in version 2.4.9 by performing argument interpolation only once, using the `hiredis` API. As a workaround, this vulnerability can be mitigated by setting `OIDCCacheEncrypt` to `on`, as cache keys are cryptographically hashed before use when this option is enabled. (CVE-2021-32785)

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://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-32785

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 252443

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2021_32785.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/20/2025

Updated: 8/20/2025

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.3

Temporal Score: 3.2

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2021-32785

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 6.5

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

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libapache2-mod-auth-openidc

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

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/22/2021

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2021-32785