A race condition flaw was found in the 9pfs server implementation of QEMU up to and including 5.2.0. This flaw allows a malicious 9p client to cause a use-after-free error, potentially escalating their privileges on the system. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality, integrity as well as system availability.
CVE-2021-20181
Score 7.5 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-24. NVD baseline CVSS 7.5; sources differ by 0.0.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.5
- EG Score
- 7.5(medium)
- EG Risk
- 38(Track)EG Risk 38/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity75% × 45%Exploitation0% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 0%
- EPSS %ILE
- 25%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
May 13, 2021
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (10)
- secalert@redhathttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1927007
- secalert@redhathttps://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/02/msg00024.html
- secalert@redhathttps://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/09/msg00008.html
- secalert@redhathttps://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210720-0009/
- secalert@redhathttps://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-21-159/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1927007
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/02/msg00024.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/09/msg00008.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210720-0009/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-21-159/
Patch Availability(1)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | qemu-utils (1:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.49) @ xenial | 2026-05-26 | ubuntu |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(6 across 6 ecosystems)
Debian:10(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| qemu | 1:3.1+dfsg-8 ... 1:3.1+dfsg-8~deb10u1 (9 versions) | 1:3.1+dfsg-8+deb10u9 | — |
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| qemu | — | 1:5.2+dfsg-4 | — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| qemu | — | 1:5.2+dfsg-4 | — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| qemu | — | 1:5.2+dfsg-4 | — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| qemu | — | 1:5.2+dfsg-4 | — |
Debian:9(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| qemu | 1:2.8+dfsg-6 ... 1:2.8+dfsg-6+deb9u9 (13 versions) | 1:2.8+dfsg-6+deb9u13 | — |
Weakness Classification(3)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
All Vendor Advisories
(2)
Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.
- Microsoft MSRCCVE-2021-201812021-06-05
A race condition flaw was found in the 9pfs server implementation of QEMU up to and including 5.2.0. This flaw allows a malicious 9p client to cause a use-after-free error potentially escalating their privileges on the system. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality integrity as well as system availability.
- UbuntuUSN-4725-1MEDIUM
QEMU vulnerabilities
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 29× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 157 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-09-18 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-17 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-16 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-16 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-15 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-13 16:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-12 14:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-11 09:33 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-10 09:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-08 21:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-07 15:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-06 17:01 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-09-05 15:25 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-09-01 03:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-30 19:14 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-28 21:37 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-27 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-25 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-23 00:16 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-21 23:46 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-20 03:04 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-19 17:01 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-18 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-05 19:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-04 22:10 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-04 15:06 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-02 02:24 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-30 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 01:27 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-26 14:52 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-24 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 01:56 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:43 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 20:29 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-12 05:44 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-09 19:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-02 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 03:48 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)
Same vendor
10 shownubuntu
- CVE-2004-0989EG 10.0EPSS p98HIGH
- CVE-2004-0990EG 10.0EPSS p98HIGH
- CVE-2004-1010EG 10.0EPSS p95HIGH
- CVE-2004-0941EG 10.0EPSS p96HIGH
- CVE-2004-0981EG 10.0EPSS p93HIGH
- CVE-2004-0882EG 10.0EPSS p96HIGH
- CVE-2004-0888EG 10.0EPSS p95HIGH
- CVE-2004-1012EG 10.0EPSS p93HIGH
- CVE-2004-1013EG 10.0EPSS p93HIGH
- CVE-2004-1018EG 10.0EPSS p97HIGH
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-362 · CWE-416
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2021-20181?
When was CVE-2021-20181 disclosed?
Is CVE-2021-20181 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-20181?
How do I remediate CVE-2021-20181?
Dependency Blast Radius
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