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CVE-2021-38185

27
FAUCET Score

CVE-2021-38185 describes an integer overflow vulnerability in GNU cpio versions through 2.13, specifically in the ds_fgetstr function, which can lead to an out-of-bounds heap write and arbitrary code execution via a crafted pattern file. This vulnerability carries a high CVSS score of 7.8, indicating high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, with a local attack vector and low attack complexity, though user interaction is required. While the EPSS score suggests a higher than average exploitability, there is currently no public exploit code available (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), nor is there any evidence of active exploitation or significant community discussion.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
<= 2.13CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:gnu:cpio:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.1

7.8HIGH

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

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.1

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
4.13%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
89.8%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-28
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0413 is in the 90th percentile among its peer group of 11,621 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.0 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (5)

microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: 19011-16820Fixed in: 2.13-3
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: 19012-16823Fixed in: 2.13-4
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: cm1 cpio 2.13-3 on CBL Mariner 1.0Fixed in: 2.13-3
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: cbl2 cpio 2.13-4 on CBL Mariner 2.0Fixed in: 2.13-4
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8Fixed in: cpio-0:2.12-11.el8
View patch

Vendor Advisories (2)

microsoft2021-Aug/CVE-2021-38185Important

GNU cpio through 2.13 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted pattern file because of a dstring.c ds_fgetstr integer overflow that triggers an out-of-bounds heap write. NOTE: it is unclear whether there are common cases where the pattern file associated with the -E option is untrusted data.

Aug 10, 2021
redhatCVE-2021-38185Moderate

cpio: integer overflow in ds_fgetstr() in dstring.c can lead to an out-of-bounds write via a crafted pattern file

Aug 6, 2021

References

github.com / fangqyi/cpiopwn
ExploitThird Party Advisory
git.savannah.gnu.org / cgit/cpio.git/commit
PatchThird Party Advisory
lists.debian.org / debian-lts-announce/2023/06/msg00007.html
lists.gnu.org / archive/html/bug-cpio/2021-08/msg00000.html
ExploitMailing ListVendor Advisory
lists.gnu.org / archive/html/bug-cpio/2021-08/msg00002.html
ExploitMailing ListVendor Advisory