NimApplication · Nim Lang

CVE-2021-29495

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-05-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.4.2 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
Nim is a statically typed compiled systems programming language. In Nim standard library before 1.4.2, httpClient SSL/TLS certificate verification was disabled by default. Users can upgrade to version 1.4.2 to receive a patch or, as a workaround, set "verifyMode = CVerifyPeer" as documented.

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

In Nim standard library before version 1.4.2, the httpClient module had SSL/TLS certificate verification disabled by default. This allowed man-in-the-middle attacks where attackers could intercept and modify encrypted traffic between the client and server, as certificate authenticity was never validated.

MitigationUpgrade Nim to version 1.4.2 or later where certificate verification is enabled by default, or programmatically set verifyMode = CVerifyPeer in existing deployments as a workaround.

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
NimApplication
Affected:< 1.4.2

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
High
Availability
None

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

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. Check installed Nim version
    Run 'nim --version' in your terminal and note the version number
    Affected if The version is below 1.4.2 (e.g., 1.4.0, 1.2.0, etc.)
  2. Identify httpClient usage in your codebase
    Search your source files for 'import httpClient' or 'HttpClient' references using grep or your IDE
    Affected if You import and use the httpClient module in your project
  3. Check SSL verification configuration
    Search your code for verifyMode settings. Look for patterns like 'newHttpClient()' followed by '.setSslConfig' or direct verifyMode assignments. Also check for 'verifyPeer = false' or 'SSLSocket' configurations
    Affected if verifyMode is not set to CVerifyPeer, or SSL verification is explicitly disabled (verifyPeer = false), or no verifyMode is configured at all in code using Nim < 1.4.2
  4. Inspect SSL context setup
    If you use custom SSL contexts, check for 'SslContext' or 'SSLSocket' usage and whether verifyMode is explicitly set to verify peers
    Affected if Custom SSL contexts do not set verifyMode = CVerifyPeer or similar peer verification settings

You are affected if you use Nim version below 1.4.2 AND use the httpClient module without explicitly setting verifyMode to validate certificates, as SSL/TLS verification was disabled by default in those versions.

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 1.4.2 or later
Fixed in 1.4.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Nim to version 1.4.2 or later where certificate verification is enabled by default, or programmatically set verifyMode = CVerifyPeer in existing deployments as a workaround.

Fix this in Nim Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,328.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-29495 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2021-29495 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