CVE-2021-42385
A use-after-free in Busybox's awk applet leads to denial of service and possibly code execution when processing a crafted awk pattern in the evaluate function
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (2.79%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
A use-after-free in Busybox's awk applet leads to denial of service and possibly code execution when processing a crafted awk pattern in the evaluate function
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 2.79% probability · 86th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-416
- Affected
- busybox/busybox · fedoraproject/fedora
- Source
- reefs@jfrog.com
EPSS 2.8% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://claroty.com/team82/research/unboxing-busybox-14-vulnerabilities-uncovered-by-claroty-jfrog
- https://jfrog.com/blog/unboxing-busybox-14-new-vulnerabilities-uncovered-by-claroty-and-jfrog/Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/6T2TURBYYJGBMQTTN2DSOAIQGP7WCPGV/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UQXGOGWBIYWOIVXJVRKHZR34UMEHQBXS/
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20211223-0002/Third Party Advisory
- https://claroty.com/team82/research/unboxing-busybox-14-vulnerabilities-uncovered-by-claroty-jfrog
- https://jfrog.com/blog/unboxing-busybox-14-new-vulnerabilities-uncovered-by-claroty-and-jfrog/Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/01/msg00012.html
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/6T2TURBYYJGBMQTTN2DSOAIQGP7WCPGV/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UQXGOGWBIYWOIVXJVRKHZR34UMEHQBXS/
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20211223-0002/Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.