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Fencer Vulns
high 8.1

CVE-2021-20179 json

A flaw was found in pki-core.

published 2021-03-15 5 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-7635

cvss
8.1
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.2%
EPSS 1.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 68%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A flaw was found in pki-core. An attacker who has successfully compromised a key could use this flaw to renew the corresponding certificate over and over again, as long as it is not explicitly revoked. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity.

Patch / fix

  • dogtagpki dogtagpki 10.5.0, 10.8.0, 10.9.0, 10.10.0, 10.11.0
  • dogtag-pki Debian 11 10.10.2-2

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2021-20179

  • dogtag-pki Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS 10.6.0-1ubuntu2+esm1
  • dogtag-pki Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS 10.8.3-1ubuntu1+esm1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2021-20179

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • jss RHEL 8 4.7.3-1.module+el8.3.0+8058+d5cd4219
  • pki-ca RHEL 8 10.9.4-3.module+el8.3.0+10353+73f6df5b
  • ldapjdk RHEL 8 4.22.0-1.module+el8.3.0+6784+6e1e4c62
  • pki-kra RHEL 8 10.9.4-3.module+el8.3.0+10353+73f6df5b
  • pki-base RHEL 8 10.9.4-3.module+el8.3.0+10353+73f6df5b
  • pki-core RHEL 8 10.9.4-3.module+el8.3.0+10353+73f6df5b
  • pki-tools RHEL 8 10.9.4-3.module+el8.3.0+10353+73f6df5b
  • tomcatjss RHEL 8 7.5.0-1.module+el8.3.0+7355+c59bcbd9

red hat advisories RHSA-2021:1263RHSA-2021:0975RHSA-2021:0966RHSA-2021:0851RHSA-2021:0819

  • ldapjdk Rocky Linux 8 4.22.0-1.module+el8.4.0+418+b7ae1d4a

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2021:0966

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2021-20179 updated cvss 8.1

pki-core: Unprivileged users can renew any certificate

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 pki-ca, pki-core, pki-util, pki-setup, pki-common, pki-silent, +7 more
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 8) jss 4.7.3-1.module+el8.3.0+8058+d5cd4219, ldapjdk 4.22.0-1.module+el8.3.0+6784+6e1e4c62, pki-ca 10.9.4-3.module+el8.3.0+10353+73f6df5b, pki-kra 10.9.4-3.module+el8.3.0+10353+73f6df5b, tomcatjss 7.5.0-1.module+el8.3.0+7355+c59bcbd9, pki-base 10.9.4-3.module+el8.3.0+10353+73f6df5b, +8 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0966
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v. 8.2) jss 4.6.2-12.module+el8.2.0+10554+cf83aa72, ldapjdk 4.21.0-2.module+el8.2.0+6294+b7db4606, pki-ca 10.8.3-6.module+el8.2.0+10554+cf83aa72, pki-kra 10.8.3-6.module+el8.2.0+10554+cf83aa72, tomcatjss 7.4.1-2.module+el8.2.0+6294+b7db4606, pki-base 10.8.3-6.module+el8.2.0+10554+cf83aa72, +8 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:1263
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) pki-ca 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-kra 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-base 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-core 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-tools 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-server 10.5.18-12.el7_9, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) pki-ca 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-kra 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-base 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-core 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-tools 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-server 10.5.18-12.el7_9, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0851
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional EUS (v. 7.6) pki-ca 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-kra 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-base 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-core 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-tools 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-server 10.5.9-15.el7_6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0819
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional EUS (v. 7.7) pki-ca 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-kra 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-base 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-core 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-tools 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-server 10.5.16-7.el7_7, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0975
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) pki-ca 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-base 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-core 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-tools 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-server 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-base-java 10.5.9-15.el7_6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server Optional (v. 7) pki-ca 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-kra 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-base 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-core 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-tools 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-server 10.5.9-15.el7_6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0819
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) pki-ca 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-kra 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-base 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-core 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-tools 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-server 10.5.18-12.el7_9, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0851
show 7 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.6) pki-ca 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-kra 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-base 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-core 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-tools 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-server 10.5.9-15.el7_6, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0819
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.7) pki-ca 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-kra 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-base 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-core 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-tools 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-server 10.5.16-7.el7_7, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0975
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) pki-ca 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-kra 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-base 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-core 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-tools 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-server 10.5.18-12.el7_9, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0851
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 7.6) pki-ca 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-kra 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-base 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-core 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-tools 10.5.9-15.el7_6, pki-server 10.5.9-15.el7_6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0819
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 7.7) pki-ca 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-kra 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-base 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-core 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-tools 10.5.16-7.el7_7, pki-server 10.5.16-7.el7_7, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0975
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) pki-ca 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-kra 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-base 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-core 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-tools 10.5.18-12.el7_9, pki-server 10.5.18-12.el7_9, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) pki-javadoc 10.5.18-12.el7_9
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:0851
  • Red Hat Certificate System 10 pki-core
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

1.22% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 68% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD 2.0 5.5 AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N

Affected products

  • n/a pki-core

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.