The wordexp function in the GNU C Library (aka glibc) through 2.33 may crash or read arbitrary memory in parse_param (in posix/wordexp.c) when called with an untrusted, crafted pattern, potentially resulting in a denial of service or disclosure of information. This occurs because atoi was used but strtoul should have been used to ensure correct calculations.
CVE-2021-35942
Score 9.1 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-24. NVD baseline CVSS 9.1; sources differ by 0.0.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 9.1
- EG Score
- 9.1(medium)
- EG Risk
- 57(Track)EG Risk 57/100SSVC: 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 computedSeverity91% × 45%Exploitation3% × 40%Automatability100% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS
- 84.2%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
July 22, 2021
Last Modified
February 13, 2026
Advisory Details (5)
Auto-updated Jul 21, 202628011 – (CVE-2021-35942) Wild read in wordexp (parse_param) (CVE-2021-35942)
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=28011GNU C Library: Multiple Vulnerabilities (GLSA 202208-24) — Gentoo security
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202208-24[SECURITY] [DLA 3152-1] glibc security update
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/10/msg00021.htmlVendor Advisories for CVE-2021-35942(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Patch Availability(3)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | locales (2.23-0ubuntu11.3+esm2) @ xenial | 2026-05-26 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | libc6-prof (2.31-0ubuntu9.7) @ focal | 2026-05-26 | ubuntu |
| redhat | glibc-0:2.28-164.el8 | 2021-11-09 | redhat |
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.
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Additional Vendor Advisories
(3)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
- Microsoft MSRCCVE-2021-359422021-08-03
The wordexp function in the GNU C Library (aka glibc) through 2.33 may crash or read arbitrary memory in parse_param (in posix/wordexp.c) when called with an untrusted crafted pattern potentially resulting in a denial of service or disclosure of information. This occurs because atoi was used but strtoul should have been used to ensure correct calculations.
- UbuntuUSN-5310-1LOW
GNU C Library vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-5699-1LOW
GNU C Library vulnerabilities
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 15× in last 7d / 45× 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 101 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-07-23 02:02 UTCEG score recompute
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Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)
Same vendor
10 shownmsrc · redhat
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-190 · CWE-704
- CVE-2009-0947EG 9.8CRITICAL
- CVE-2011-2337EG 9.8CRITICAL
- CVE-2011-1460EG 9.8CRITICAL
- CVE-2005-1141EG 9.8CRITICAL
- CVE-2005-0102EG 9.8CRITICAL
- CVE-2002-0391EG 9.8EPSS 99%CRITICAL
- CVE-2002-0639EG 9.8EPSS 97%CRITICAL
- CVE-2010-20115EG 9.3CRITICAL
- CVE-2012-5054NVD 8.8EG 9.0 KEVEPSS 97%HIGH
- CVE-2011-1823NVD 7.8EG 9.0 KEVEPSS 99%HIGH
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2021-35942?
When was CVE-2021-35942 disclosed?
Is CVE-2021-35942 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-35942?
How do I remediate CVE-2021-35942?
Dependency Blast Radius
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