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CVE-2021-4044

44
FAUCET Score

CVE-2021-4044 is a high-severity vulnerability in OpenSSL 3.0.0, specifically within its libssl component, affecting products like NetApp and Node.js. It involves a mishandling of negative return values from the X509_verify_cert() function during server certificate verification, leading to unexpected SSL_ERROR_WANT_RETRY_VERIFY errors. This can cause application crashes, infinite loops, or other incorrect behaviors, particularly when combined with another OpenSSL 3.0 bug related to certificate chains and name constraints. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH), indicating a network-based attack with low complexity and no user interaction required, potentially leading to high availability impact. Its FAUCET Risk Score is 85/100, and its EPSS score suggests a higher-than-average likelihood of exploitation. Currently, there is no evidence of active exploitation, and no public exploit code is available on platforms like Metasploit or ExploitDB. The vulnerability has also received minimal community discussion and media coverage, which is typical for the majority of CVEs.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
< 1.0.2CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
1.1.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:1.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
3.0.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:netapp:cloud_backup:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:netapp:e-series_performance_analyzer:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.1

7.5HIGH

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

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
NONE
Integrity Impact
NONE
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
3.9
Impact Score
3.6
CvssVersion
3.1

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
50.10%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
98.8%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-25
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.5010 is in the 98th percentile among its peer group of 51,485 CVEs.

Social Chatter

No social media mentions found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.4 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.1 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (1)

rustpatch availablevia ghsa
Product: openssl-srcFixed in: 300.0.4

Vendor Advisories (2)

rustGHSA-mmjf-f5jw-w72qhigh

Invalid handling of `X509_verify_cert()` internal errors in libssl

Dec 15, 2021
redhatCVE-2021-4044Moderate

openssl: invalid handling of X509_verify_cert() internal errors in libssl

Dec 14, 2021

References

git.openssl.org / gitweb
security.netapp.com / advisory/ntap-20211229-0003
Vendor Advisory
openssl.org / news/secadv/20211214.txt
Vendor Advisory