FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2021-4024

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.4.3 or later.
See remediation →
74/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A flaw was found in podman. The `podman machine` function (used to create and manage Podman virtual machine containing a Podman process) spawns a `gvproxy` process on the host system. The `gvproxy` API is accessible on port 7777 on all IP addresses on the host. If that port is open on the host's firewall, an attacker can potentially use the `gvproxy` API to forward ports on the host to ports in the VM, making private services on the VM accessible to the network. This issue could be also used to interrupt the host's services by forwarding all ports to the VM.

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 podman machine function spawns a gvproxy process that listens on port 7777 across all host IP addresses. If this port is accessible through the host's firewall, remote attackers can use the gvproxy API to forward arbitrary ports from the host to the VM, exposing internal services or disrupting host operations.

MitigationRestrict access to port 7777 via host firewall rules (e.g., iptables, nftables) to limit exposure to trusted local users/processes only, or disable the gvproxy service when not in use.

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
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 34= 35
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
PodmanApplication
Affected:>= 3.3.0, < 3.4.3

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

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

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 installed Podman version
    Run `podman --version` to get the version number, then compare it to the affected range: >= 3.3.0 and < 3.4.3. Also note that Fedora 34, 35 and RHEL 8.0 are listed as affected.
    Affected if Podman version is 3.3.0 through 3.4.2 inclusive, or the system runs Fedora 34/35 or RHEL 8.0 with Podman installed from affected repos.
  2. Verify gvproxy process is running
    Run `ps aux | grep gvproxy` or `pgrep -a gvproxy` to check if the gvproxy process is currently active.
    Affected if The gvproxy process is running on the system.
  3. Confirm port 7777 is listening
    Run `ss -tlnp | grep 7777` or `netstat -tlnp | grep 7777` to check if port 7777 is bound and listening on all interfaces.
    Affected if Port 7777 is shown as LISTEN on 0.0.0.0 or :: (all addresses).
  4. Check firewall exposure of port 7777
    Run `iptables -L -n` or `nft list ruleset` (depending on system) to inspect firewall rules and determine if port 7777 is permitted for external access.
    Affected if Firewall rules allow incoming connections to port 7777 from non-local IP addresses, meaning the port is accessible beyond localhost.

A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable Podman version (3.3.0 to 3.4.2) with gvproxy actively listening on port 7777 that is exposed through the firewall to untrusted network access.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.4.3 or later
Fixed in 3.4.3
Interim mitigation

Restrict access to port 7777 via host firewall rules (e.g., iptables, nftables) to limit exposure to trusted local users/processes only, or disable the gvproxy service when not in use.

Recommended fix High confidence

Podman >= 3.4.3 (or equivalent fixed version available via system package manager)

  1. Upgrade Podman to version 3.4.3 or later. For Fedora 34/35 systems, run: `sudo dnf update podman`
  2. For Enterprise Linux 8.0, check for and apply available Podman updates via: `sudo dnf update podman`
  3. Verify the upgrade was successful by running: `podman --version`
  4. Restart any running Podman machines: `podman machine stop && podman machine start`
  5. Confirm the gvproxy port 7777 is no longer exposed on all interfaces by checking: `ss -tlnp | grep 7777` (should show localhost-only or no listener if machines are not running)
Caveat Minimal - this is a security patch upgrade; no breaking API changes expected for normal usage

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Fedora Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2021-4024 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