CVE-2021-33910
MediumCVSS 5.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Very high risk95th percentile - higher than 95% of all known CVEs
Summary
In systemd before versions 246.15, 247.8, 248.5, and 249.1, basic/unit-name.c has excessive memory allocation (via strdupa and alloca) for a pathname controlled by a local attacker, leading to an operating system crash.
Risk Assessment
A local attacker can cause a system crash (DoS), potentially disrupting services and affecting system availability.
Recommendation
Update systemd to version 246.15, 247.8, 248.5, or 249.1 (or later) depending on the branch in use.
Other vulnerabilities in systemd
See all- CVE-2017-15908High
In systemd versions 223 through 235, a remote DNS server can respond with a custom crafted NSEC resource record to trigger an infinite loop in the dns_packet_read_type_window() function of the 'systemd-resolved' service, causing a DoS of the affected service.
- CVE-2017-9445High
In systemd versions up to 233, certain sizes passed to dns_packet_new in systemd-resolved can cause it to allocate a buffer that's too small. A malicious DNS server can exploit this via a response with a specially crafted TCP payload to trick systemd-resolved into allocating a buffer that's too small, leading to arbitrary data being written beyond its end.
- CVE-2016-10156High
A flaw in systemd v228 in /src/basic/fs-util.c caused world writable suid files to be created when using the systemd timers features, allowing local attackers to escalate their privileges to root.
- CVE-2019-3844High
It was discovered that a systemd service using the DynamicUser property can gain new privileges through the execution of SUID binaries, allowing creation of binaries owned by the service's transient group with the setgid bit set. A local attacker may exploit this flaw to access resources that will be.
- CVE-2022-4415Medium
A vulnerability in systemd causes systemd-coredump to ignore the kernel's fs.suid_dumpable setting, potentially leading to a local information leak.
- CVE-2019-3843High
A vulnerability was found in systemd where a service using the DynamicUser property can create a SUID/SGID binary that remains executable with the transient service UID/GID even after the service terminates. A local attacker could exploit this to access resources owned by a potentially different UID/GID.
- CVE-2026-40225Medium
In udev in systemd before version 260, local root execution can occur via malicious hardware devices and unsanitized kernel output.
- CVE-2026-40226Medium
In systemd versions 233 through 259 before 260, an escape-to-host action can occur via a crafted optional config file in nspawn.
- CVE-2015-7510Critical
There is a stack-based buffer overflow in the getpwnam and getgrnam functions of the NSS module nss-mymachines in systemd.
- CVE-2017-1000082Critical
systemd v233 and earlier fails to safely parse usernames starting with a numeric digit, resulting in the service running with root privileges instead of the intended user privileges.
Original NVD description (English source)
basic/unit-name.c in systemd prior to 246.15, 247.8, 248.5, and 249.1 has a Memory Allocation with an Excessive Size Value (involving strdupa and alloca for a pathname controlled by a local attacker) that results in an operating system crash.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

