CVE-2021-3838

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This critical-severity CVE scores 9.8 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 1.4%, top 30% 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 verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 1%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

DomPDF before version 2.0.0 is vulnerable to PHAR deserialization due to a lack of checking on the protocol before passing it into the file_get_contents() function. An attacker who can upload files of any type to the server can pass in the phar:// protocol to unserialize the uploaded file and instantiate arbitrary PHP objects. This can lead to remote code execution, especially when DOMPdf is used with frameworks with documented POP chains like Laravel or vulnerable developer code.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
75(Attend)
EG Risk 75/100SSVC: Attend

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 computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation40% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
Action: Remediate soon — notable exploitation risk.
EPSS
70.2%
KEV
Not listed

Published

November 15, 2024

Last Modified

November 19, 2024

Advisory Details (2)

Auto-updated Jun 9, 2026
Patch available. Sources: github_commit.
generic

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github_commit Patch Available

commit 99aeec1efec9 (dompdf/dompdf)

Patch available: dompdf/dompdf v2.0.0 (contains commit 99aeec1efec9)

https://github.com/dompdf/dompdf/commit/99aeec1efec9213e87098d42eb09439e7ee0bb6a

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuphp-dompdf (0.6.1+dfsg-2ubuntu1+esm1) @ xenial2026-05-23ubuntu
ubuntuphp-dompdf (0.6.2+dfsg-3.1ubuntu0.1) @ jammy2026-05-23ubuntu

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)
Packagist(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
dompdf/dompdfv0.6.0 ... v1.2.2 (22 versions)2.0.0—

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 11× in last 7d / 50× 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 106 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-07-23 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-23 02:03 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-22 22:49 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
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  19. 2026-07-13 19:38 UTCOSV refresh
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  1. 2026-07-08 15:12 UTCEPSS rescore
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  21. 2026-06-25 17:16 UTCOSV refresh
  22. 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
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  24. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
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  54. 2026-06-08 06:58 UTCOSV refresh
  55. 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
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Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2021-3838?
CVE-2021-3838 is a critical vulnerability published on November 15, 2024. DomPDF before version 2.0.0 is vulnerable to PHAR deserialization due to a lack of checking on the protocol before passing it into the filegetcontents() function. An attacker who can upload files of any type to the server can pass in the phar:// protocol to unserialize the uploaded file and…
When was CVE-2021-3838 disclosed?
CVE-2021-3838 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on November 15, 2024, with the most recent update on November 19, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2021-3838 actively exploited?
CVE-2021-3838 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 70.2% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-3838?
CVE-2021-3838 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2021-3838?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2021-3838, 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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