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Drawings Software Development KitApplication · Opendesign

CVE-2021-43275

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2022.8 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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 Use After Free vulnerability exists in the DGN file reading procedure in Open Design Alliance Drawings SDK before 2022.8. The issue results from the lack of validating the existence of an object prior to performing operations on the object. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the current process.

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

A Use After Free vulnerability exists in the DGN file parsing component of Open Design Alliance Drawings SDK. The code fails to validate object existence before performing operations on it, leading to use-after-free conditions when processing maliciously crafted DGN files. This allows remote code execution in the context of the current process.

MitigationUpgrade to ODA Drawings SDK version 2022.8 or later to obtain the patch. Additionally, process DGN files in sandboxed or isolated environments as defense-in-depth.

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
Drawings Software Development KitApplication
Affected:< 2022.8

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 ODA Drawings SDK is installed
    Search for ODA SDK files in common installation directories such as C:\Program Files\ODA\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\ODA\, or check for OdDg* DLL files in application directories
    Affected if The SDK files are found in the environment
  2. Determine the installed SDK version
    Check version information on the ODA SDK DLL files (typically named OdDg*.dll or similar), right-click and view Properties > Details, or use PowerShell: Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Program Files\ODA' -Recurse -Filter '*.dll' | ForEach-Object { [System.Diagnostics.FileVersionInfo]::GetVersionInfo($_.FullName) }
    Affected if The version number is lower than 2022.8
  3. Identify applications using ODA Drawings SDK
    Check which applications on the system link to or load ODA SDK DLLs by examining application dependencies (using tools like Dependencies.exe or Process Monitor), or review application documentation for DGN support
    Affected if Applications using the SDK are present and process DGN files
  4. Verify DGN file processing capability is active
    Check if the application or system processes DGN files by examining file associations, recent file access logs, or monitoring for .dgn file operations
    Affected if The environment processes or can process DGN files from any source

The environment is affected if ODA Drawings SDK version below 2022.8 is installed AND applications using the SDK actively process DGN files.

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 2022.8 or later
Fixed in 2022.8
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to ODA Drawings SDK version 2022.8 or later to obtain the patch. Additionally, process DGN files in sandboxed or isolated environments as defense-in-depth.

Recommended fix High confidence

Drawings SDK 2022.8 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current version of Open Design Alliance Drawings SDK in use by checking project dependencies or binary version information
  2. 2. Download the Drawings SDK version 2022.8 or later from the official Open Design Alliance website (www.opendesign.com)
  3. 3. Backup all existing project files and compiled binaries before proceeding with the upgrade
  4. 4. Replace the old SDK files (headers, libraries, and DLLs) with the new version 2022.8 files
  5. 5. Rebuild the application to ensure compatibility with the new SDK version
  6. 6. Test the rebuilt application thoroughly, especially DGN file reading functionality, to confirm the vulnerability is resolved
  7. 7. Verify that no new issues have been introduced by the upgrade
Caveat Review the SDK changelog between your current version and 2022.8 for any API changes that may require code adjustments

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

Fix this in Drawings Software Development Kit Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,464.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2021-43275 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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