CVE Intelligence
Critical Memory corruption exploit reference

CVE-2021-20231 — A flaw was found in gnutls. A use after free issue in client sending key_share extension may lead...

A flaw was found in gnutls. A use after free issue in client sending key_share extension may lead to memory corruption and other consequences.

Published Mar 12, 2021 · Updated Oct 14, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP, GitHub Security Advisories · CNA: redhat

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • EPSS 3.8% (30-day exploitation probability)+13
  • Technical severity (critical)+10

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
3.75%
ahead of 90% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026
Affects
Fedoraproject
Fedora and 4 more
CVSS base
9.8
Critical · 1 source(s)

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Fedoraproject Fedora, Gnu Gnutls, Netapp Active Iq Unified Manager…).
  2. The attack is network-based and needs no privileges: restrict exposure (ACLs, VPN, WAF) until patched.
  3. Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
  4. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (memory corruption), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Fedoraproject Fedora version 34 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Gnu Gnutls ≥ 3.6.3 and < 3.7.1 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Netapp Active Iq Unified Manager versions not specified by the source Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Netapp E-series Performance Analyzer versions not specified by the source Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 8.0 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
9.8 CVSS 3.1 Critical 3.9 5.9 nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
7.5 CVSS 2.0 High 10.0 6.4 nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-416 · Use After Free

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 3.75%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
  • Correlate service crashes/restarts with inbound traffic; repeated crashes may indicate attempts.
web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSendpoint telemetry (EDR)crash dumps

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Record published
    Oct 14, 2026
  • Fix documented
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Affected products added · gnu/gnutls, redhat/enterprise linux, fedoraproject/fedora, netapp/active iq unified manager, netapp/e-series performance
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVSS changed · 9.8
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Modified
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 14, 2026 · Alertas do Telegram
  • 2021
  • CVE published
    Mar 12, 2021 · redhat

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 2× References added · Oct 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026
  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026

References

24 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Fedoraproject
every CVE for this vendor
Memory corruption
same class
CWE-416
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2026-104046 Sssd: sssd: denial of service via incomplete identity provider authentication requests 9d
  • CVE-2026-104045 Sssd: sssd: denial of service via race condition in autofs responder 9d
  • CVE-2026-104047 Sssd: sssd: information disclosure via query injection in entra id lookups 9d
  • CVE-2026-104048 Sssd: sssd: authorization bypass via cross-domain username collision in hbac evaluation 9d
  • CVE-2026-102558 Libsoup: libsoup: heap buffer overflow during websocket receive-buffer growth 16d
  • CVE-2026-102555 Libsoup: libsoup: heap buffer overflow via uninitialized length in data-uri base64 decoding 16d

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No CISA SSVC assessment.
  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2021-20231 is "A flaw was found in gnutls. A use after free issue in client sending key_share extension may lead...", rated Critical. It affects Fedora (Fedoraproject); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 9.8 describes technical severity. EPSS 3.75% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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