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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2021-43174

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.10.2 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
NLnet Labs Routinator versions 0.9.0 up to and including 0.10.1, support the gzip transfer encoding when querying RRDP repositories. This encoding can be used by an RRDP repository to cause an out-of-memory crash in these versions of Routinator. RRDP uses XML which allows arbitrary amounts of white space in the encoded data. The gzip scheme compresses such white space extremely well, leading to very small compressed files that become huge when being decompressed for further processing, big enough that Routinator runs out of memory when parsing input data waiting for the next XML element.

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

NLnet Labs Routinator 0.9.0-0.10.1 has a memory exhaustion vulnerability when processing gzip-encoded RRDP (RPKI Repository Delta Protocol) data. Attackers can exploit excessive whitespace in XML combined with gzip compression to create decompression bombs—small compressed files that expand to huge sizes upon decompression, causing Routinator to run out of memory and crash.

MitigationUpgrade Routinator to version 0.11.0 or later, which addresses this vulnerability by implementing limits on decompression size and proper handling of decompression bombs.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0
RoutinatorApplication
Affected:>= 0.9.0, < 0.10.2

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if Routinator is installed
    Run 'routinator --version' or check for the binary at /usr/bin/routinator or look for the package via your system package manager (dpkg -l | grep routinator on Debian)
    Affected if Routinator binary exists on the system
  2. Determine installed Routinator version
    Execute 'routinator --version' and note the version number in the output (format: routinator 0.x.x)
    Affected if The version shown is 0.9.0, 0.9.1, 0.9.2, 0.10.0, 0.10.1, or any version >= 0.9.0 but < 0.10.2
  3. Check if RRDP processing is enabled
    Examine the Routinator configuration file (typically /etc/routinator/routinator.conf) or run 'routinator config' and look for 'allow-fetch' or 'rrdp' settings
    Affected if RRDP is enabled (the default behavior allows RRDP fetching from remote repositories)
  4. Check if Routinator processes remote RPKI data
    Review Routinator's runtime arguments or configuration for any 'allow-fetch' or similar settings that permit fetching from remote repositories
    Affected if Remote fetch is allowed, as this vulnerability is triggered when processing remote RRDP data

You are affected if Routinator version is 0.9.0 through 0.10.1 and RRDP remote fetching is enabled (the default configuration).

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 0.10.2 or later
Fixed in 0.10.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Routinator to version 0.11.0 or later, which addresses this vulnerability by implementing limits on decompression size and proper handling of decompression bombs.

Recommended fix High confidence

Routinator 0.10.2 or later

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed Routinator version by running: routinator --version
  2. 2. If the installed version is between 0.9.0 and 0.10.1 (inclusive), upgrade to version 0.10.2 or later
  3. 3. For package-based installations, use the appropriate package manager to update (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get install routinator on Debian)
  4. 4. For installations via other methods (e.g., source, containers), obtain and install the fixed release from the official NLnet Labs repository
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the new version: routinator --version

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

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,290
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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-2021-43174 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