THREATPORT/VULNERABILITY/CVE-2021-32749
MEDIUM SEVERITY

CVE-2021-32749

Fail2ban vulnerability

CVSS
6.1
EPSS
3.6%
EPSS pct
88th
Exploited
No known
fail2ban is a daemon to ban hosts that cause multiple authentication errors. In versions 0.9.7 and prior, 0.10.0 through 0.10.6, and 0.11.0 through 0.11.2, there is a vulnerability that leads to possible remote code execution in the mailing action mail-whois. Command `mail` from mailutils package used in mail actions like `mail-whois` can execute command if unescaped sequences (`\n~`) are available in "foreign" input (for instance in whois output). To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would need to insert malicious characters into the response sent by the whois server, either via a MITM attack or by taking over a whois server. The issue is patched in versions 0.10.7 and 0.11.3. As a workaround, one may avoid the usage of action `mail-whois` or patch the vulnerability manually.
Affected vendor
Fail2ban
Affected product
Fail2ban
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N
Weakness type (CWE)
Published
2021-07-16

Risk analysis

Based on its CVSS vector, this vulnerability is exploitable over the network, high attack complexity, requiring no privileges, user interaction. Successful exploitation leads to high impact to integrity.

Its EPSS score of 3.6% reflects a lower probability of exploitation activity in the wild over the next 30 days, placing it above 88% of all scored CVEs.

Check your external exposure to CVE-2021-32749

  • Confirm whether Fail2ban Fail2ban is running on any internet-facing host or subdomain.
  • Match discovered service fingerprints against the version affected by CVE-2021-32749.
  • Prioritise remediation if the asset is public, business-critical, or near authentication/payment flows.

How ThreatPort helps with CVE-2021-32749

ThreatPort's external attack surface scanner checks your internet-facing assets — agentlessly, from the outside in — for the exposed services and versions that CVE-2021-32749 affects, then prioritises the finding by real risk using CISA KEV and FIRST.org EPSS.

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