FreeBSDOperating system
CVE-2021-29629
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 · uneditedIn FreeBSD 13.0-STABLE before n245765-bec0d2c9c841, 12.2-STABLE before r369859, 11.4-STABLE before r369866, 13.0-RELEASE before p1, 12.2-RELEASE before p7, and 11.4-RELEASE before p10, missing message validation in libradius(3) could allow malicious clients or servers to trigger denial of service in vulnerable servers or clients respectively.
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 confidenceA missing message validation vulnerability in FreeBSD's libradius(3) library allows malicious RADIUS clients or servers to trigger denial of service in vulnerable systems. The issue affects both client and server implementations of the library across multiple FreeBSD versions.
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
FreeBSDOperating system
= 11.4= 12.2= 13.0CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify FreeBSD versionRun 'uname -r' or check /etc/os-release to determine the installed FreeBSD versionAffected if The version is 11.4, 12.2, or 13.0 (base system) without the respective patches applied
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Determine if RADIUS services are activeCheck for running RADIUS daemons using 'ps aux | grep -i radius' or 'sockstat | grep radius'Affected if Any RADIUS server or client process using libradius(3) is running on an affected FreeBSD version
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Identify libradius(3) dependent applicationsRun 'ldd /path/to/binary' on any RADIUS-related binaries (e.g., /usr/sbin/radiusd, /usr/bin/radclient) to confirm linkage to libradius.soAffected if Applications linked against libradius.3 are in use on a vulnerable FreeBSD release
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Check RADIUS configuration exposureReview /etc/radiusd.conf or similar RADIUS configuration files and network bindings to determine if the service listens on network interfacesAffected if RADIUS services are bound to network interfaces and accessible to untrusted sources on an affected system
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Verify patch statusCheck FreeBSD security advisories or run 'freebsd-version -u' to confirm patch level, or review /usr/src/UPDATING for the libradius commitAffected if System remains at the base release version (13.0-RELEASE, 12.2-RELEASE, or 11.4-RELEASE) without corresponding patches (p1, p7, p10 respectively)
A system is affected if it runs FreeBSD 11.4, 12.2, or 13.0 base release and has RADIUS services using libradius(3) exposed to network traffic from untrusted sources.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpdate FreeBSD systems to the patched versions (13.0-RELEASE p1+, 12.2-RELEASE p7+, 11.4-RELEASE p10+ or corresponding STABLE branches). If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict RADIUS traffic to trusted sources at the network level.
Fix this in FreeBSD
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,096.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-29629 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-29629 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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