THREATPORT/VULNERABILITY/CVE-2021-42694
HIGH SEVERITY

CVE-2021-42694

Unicode vulnerability

CVSS
8.3
EPSS
4.5%
EPSS pct
90th
Exploited
No known
An issue was discovered in the character definitions of the Unicode Specification through 14.0. The specification allows an adversary to produce source code identifiers such as function names using homoglyphs that render visually identical to a target identifier. Adversaries can leverage this to inject code via adversarial identifier definitions in upstream software dependencies invoked deceptively in downstream software. NOTE: the Unicode Consortium offers the following alternative approach to presenting this concern. An issue is noted in the nature of international text that can affect applications that implement support for The Unicode Standard (all versions). Unless mitigated, an adversary could produce source code identifiers using homoglyph characters that render visually identical to but are distinct from a target identifier. In this way, an adversary could inject adversarial identifier definitions in upstream software that are not detected by human reviewers and are invoked deceptively in downstream software. The Unicode Consortium has documented this class of security vulnerability in its document, Unicode Technical Report #36, Unicode Security Considerations. The Unicode Consortium also provides guidance on mitigations for this class of issues in Unicode Technical Standard #39, Unicode Security Mechanisms.
Affected vendor
Unicode
Affected product
Unicode
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness type (CWE)
Published
2021-11-01

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 confidentiality, high impact to integrity, high impact to availability.

Its EPSS score of 4.5% reflects a lower probability of exploitation activity in the wild over the next 30 days, placing it above 90% of all scored CVEs.

Check your external exposure to CVE-2021-42694

  • Confirm whether Unicode Unicode is running on any internet-facing host or subdomain.
  • Match discovered service fingerprints against the version affected by CVE-2021-42694.
  • Prioritise remediation if the asset is public, business-critical, or near authentication/payment flows.

How ThreatPort helps with CVE-2021-42694

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