HiredisDatabase / datastore · Redis

CVE-2021-32765

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-10-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.0.1 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
Hiredis is a minimalistic C client library for the Redis database. In affected versions Hiredis is vulnurable to integer overflow if provided maliciously crafted or corrupted `RESP` `mult-bulk` protocol data. When parsing `multi-bulk` (array-like) replies, hiredis fails to check if `count * sizeof(redisReply*)` can be represented in `SIZE_MAX`. If it can not, and the `calloc()` call doesn't itself make this check, it would result in a short allocation and subsequent buffer overflow. Users of hiredis who are unable to update may set the [maxelements](https://github.com/redis/hiredis#reader-max-array-elements) context option to a value small enough that no overflow is possible.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-190

An arithmetic operation produces a value too large for its type and wraps around to an unexpected — often tiny or negative — number. That miscalculated value then drives a memory allocation or a bounds check, opening the door to corruption. The fix is checked arithmetic and validating sizes before they're used.

General guidance for the integer overflow class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
HiredisDatabase / datastore
Affected:< 1.0.1
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 9.0
Management Services For Element Software And Netapp HciApplication
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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 1.0.1 or later
Fixed in 1.0.1
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

hiredis >= 1.0.1

  1. Identify the version of hiredis currently in use by checking project dependencies or running a version check command
  2. Upgrade hiredis to version 1.0.1 or later by updating the dependency in your package manager or build system (e.g., go get github.com/redis/[email protected], pip install hiredis>=1.0.1, or equivalent)
  3. After upgrading, rebuild and redeploy any applications that link against hiredis
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the hiredis version matches 1.0.1 or higher
  5. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, apply the configuration workaround by setting the maxelements context option in the redisContext to a value small enough that count * sizeof(redisReply*) cannot overflow (e.g., maxelements set to 1000 or lower)

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 $3,200. Get the upgrade done

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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-2021-32765 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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