CVE-2021-3521

MEDIUM
4.7
CVSS Score
Published: August 22, 2022 at 12:00 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 04:05 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorRpm

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Severity
MEDIUM4.7
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 4.17.1
Affected range stops below 4.17.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.18.0-beta1 (unaffected)

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-347

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