CurlApplication · Haxx

CVE-2021-22946

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-09-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.79.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A user can tell curl >= 7.20.0 and <= 7.78.0 to require a successful upgrade to TLS when speaking to an IMAP, POP3 or FTP server (`--ssl-reqd` on the command line or`CURLOPT_USE_SSL` set to `CURLUSESSL_CONTROL` or `CURLUSESSL_ALL` withlibcurl). This requirement could be bypassed if the server would return a properly crafted but perfectly legitimate response.This flaw would then make curl silently continue its operations **withoutTLS** contrary to the instructions and expectations, exposing possibly sensitive data in clear text over the network.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
CurlApplication
Affected:>= 7.20.0, < 7.79.0
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 9.0= 10.0= 11.0
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 33= 35
Cloud BackupApplication
Affected:all versions
Clustered Data OntapApplication
Affected:all versions
Oncommand InsightApplication
Affected:all versions
Oncommand Workflow AutomationApplication
Affected:all versions
SnapcenterApplication
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 7.79.0 or later
Fixed in 7.79.0
Recommended fix High confidence

curl >= 7.79.0

  1. 1. Check current curl version by running: curl --version
  2. 2. For Debian/Ubuntu: Run 'sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install curl' to upgrade to the latest available version
  3. 3. For Fedora: Run 'sudo dnf update curl' to upgrade to the latest available version
  4. 4. For other Linux distributions: Obtain curl 7.79.0 or later from your distribution's package repository or compile from source from https://curl.se/download.html
  5. 5. Verify the fix by running: curl --version (confirm version >= 7.79.0)
  6. 6. Test that --ssl-reqd properly enforces TLS by attempting connection to an FTP/IMAP/POP3 server without TLS and confirming it fails

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-22946 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data