CVE-2021-3711

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This critical-severity CVE scores 9.8 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 2.5%, top 14% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, nvd
Elevated
9.8
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 88%
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 88%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

In order to decrypt SM2 encrypted data an application is expected to call the API function EVP_PKEY_decrypt(). Typically an application will call this function twice. The first time, on entry, the "out" parameter can be NULL and, on exit, the "outlen" parameter is populated with the buffer size required to hold the decrypted plaintext. The application can then allocate a sufficiently sized buffer and call EVP_PKEY_decrypt() again, but this time passing a non-NULL value for the "out" parameter. A bug in the implementation of the SM2 decryption code means that the calculation of the buffer size required to hold the plaintext returned by the first call to EVP_PKEY_decrypt() can be smaller than the actual size required by the second call. This can lead to a buffer overflow when EVP_PKEY_decrypt() is called by the application a second time with a buffer that is too small. A malicious attacker who is able present SM2 content for decryption to an application could cause attacker chosen data to overflow the buffer by up to a maximum of 62 bytes altering the contents of other data held after the buffer, possibly changing application behaviour or causing the application to crash. The location of the buffer is application dependent but is typically heap allocated. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1l (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1k).

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EPSS
99.7%
KEV
Not listed

Published

August 24, 2021

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (8)

Auto-updated Jul 9, 2026
No patch confirmed yet.
generic

OpenSSL: Multiple Vulnerabilities (GLSA 202210-02) — Gentoo security

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202210-02
generic

IBM Spectrum Protect: Multiple Vulnerabilities (GLSA 202209-02) — Gentoo security

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202209-02
generic

oss-security - OpenSSL SM2 Decryption Buffer Overflow (CVE-2021-3711), Read buffer overruns processing ASN.1 strings (CVE-2021-3712)

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/08/26/2

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulibssl-doc (1.1.1f-1ubuntu2.8) @ focal2026-05-26ubuntu

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

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
crates.io(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
openssl-src111.16.0

Weakness Classification(1)

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.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 2× in last 7d / 20× 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.

  1. 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-01 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-30 17:30 UTCOSV refresh
  5. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-21 14:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-16 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-16 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-15 17:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-14 23:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-14 23:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-12 23:38 UTCOSV refresh
  20. 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-10 13:20 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 31 more
  1. 2026-06-08 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-08 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-05-29 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-05-26 11:38 UTCEG score recompute
  28. 2026-05-26 11:38 UTCVendor advisory
  29. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2021-3711?
CVE-2021-3711 is a critical vulnerability published on August 24, 2021. In order to decrypt SM2 encrypted data an application is expected to call the API function EVPPKEYdecrypt(). Typically an application will call this function twice. The first time, on entry, the "out" parameter can be NULL and, on exit, the "outlen" parameter is populated with the buffer size…
When was CVE-2021-3711 disclosed?
CVE-2021-3711 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 24, 2021, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2021-3711 actively exploited?
CVE-2021-3711 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 99.7% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-3711?
CVE-2021-3711 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2021-3711?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2021-3711, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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