CVE-2021-29860
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 · uneditedIBM AIX 7.1, 7.2, and VIOS 3.1 could allow a non-privileged local user to exploit a vulnerability in the libc.a library to expose sensitive information. IBM X-Force ID: 206084.
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 · moderate confidenceA vulnerability in the libc.a library on IBM AIX 7.1, 7.2, and VIOS 3.1 allows a non-privileged local user to exploit the library to expose sensitive information. The flaw resides in how the libc.a library handles certain operations, potentially leaking memory contents or other sensitive data to an unprivileged attacker.
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= 3.1.0= 7.1.0= 7.2.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify the operating system is IBM AIX or VIOSRun 'oslevel -s' on the command line to identify the OS versionAffected if The OS is not AIX 7.1.0, 7.2.0, or VIOS 3.1.0, then the system is not affected by this specific CVE
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Confirm exact AIX or VIOS versionExecute 'lsmap -sys' for VIOS or 'oslevel' for AIX to get the precise version numberAffected if The version is exactly 7.1.0 or 7.2.0 for AIX, or 3.1.0 for VIOS, the system falls within the affected range
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Check libc.a library version and patch levelRun 'lslpp -l bos.rte.libc' to see the installed libc library fileset and its version/patch informationAffected if The bos.rte.libc fileset version matches the vulnerable AIX/VIOS versions and has not been patched
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Identify if non-privileged local users existRun 'lsuser -a id ALL | grep -v 0' or check /etc/passwd for non-root users with UID greater than 0Affected if Non-privileged local users exist on the system, they could potentially exploit this vulnerability to gain sensitive information
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Review system for unauthorized access attemptsCheck AIX audit logs using 'auditpr' or review /var/log/audit/* for libc-related access patterns, and monitor for unusual memory read attemptsAffected if Suspicious libc library access patterns appear in logs indicating potential exploitation attempts
A system is affected if it runs AIX 7.1.0, AIX 7.2.0, or VIOS 3.1.0 with the unpatched libc.a library and has non-privileged local user accounts present.
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 dataApply IBM's appropriate patch for AIX and VIOS to update the libc.a library. Restrict local user access and monitor for unauthorized access attempts until the patch can be deployed.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-29860 — 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-2021-29860 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