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Storage Performance Development KitApplication · Spdk

CVE-2021-28361

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-03-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20.01.01 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
An issue was discovered in Storage Performance Development Kit (SPDK) before 20.01.01. If a PDU is sent to the iSCSI target with a zero length (but data is expected), the iSCSI target can crash with a NULL pointer dereference.

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 · high confidence

The SPDK iSCSI target crashes due to a NULL pointer dereference when processing a malformed PDU (Protocol Data Unit) that contains zero length when data is expected. This causes denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade SPDK to version 20.01.01 or later which contains the fix for proper validation of PDU length fields before dereferencing.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
Storage Performance Development KitApplication
Affected:< 20.01.01

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify SPDK version
    Run 'spdk_version' or check the SPDK package/version installed on the system. Compare the version number against 20.01.01.
    Affected if The installed SPDK version is below 20.01.01.
  2. Confirm iSCSI target is enabled
    Check if the iSCSI target subsystem is loaded or configured. Look for 'iscsi' in 'spdk_nice' output or check configuration files in /etc/spdk/ for iSCSI target settings.
    Affected if The iSCSI target feature is enabled or loaded.
  3. Verify iSCSI target is running
    Run 'spdk_nice | grep -i iscsi' or check for active iSCSI target processes/listeners. Look for port 3260 if default iSCSI port is in use.
    Affected if The iSCSI target daemon (spdk_iscsi) is actively running and accepting connections.

A system is affected if it runs SPDK version below 20.01.01 AND has the iSCSI target feature enabled or running.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 20.01.01 or later
Fixed in 20.01.01
Interim mitigation

Upgrade SPDK to version 20.01.01 or later which contains the fix for proper validation of PDU length fields before dereferencing.

Fix this in Storage Performance Development Kit Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

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-2021-28361 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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