High
Security advisory
A flaw was found in RPM's signature check functionality when reading a package file. This flaw allows an attacker who can convince a victim to install a seemingly verifiable package, whose signature header was modified, to cause RPM database corruption and execute code. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data integrity, confidentiality, and system availability.
- Products
- Not specified
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- Not specified
- CVEs
- CVE-2021-20271
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 31 Oct 2026, 12:42 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
A flaw was found in RPM's signature check functionality when reading a package file. This flaw allows an attacker who can convince a victim to install a seemingly verifiable package, whose signature header was modified, to cause RPM database corruption and execute code. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data integrity, confidentiality, and system availability.
osv:CVE-2021-20271
Complete source record
{
"id": "f7a61886c15f019ef509c4179116bad1a19927892e80b05e565af0492f9f872f",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-20271",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "CVE-2021-20271",
"summary": "A flaw was found in RPM's signature check functionality when reading a package file. This flaw allows an attacker who can convince a victim to install a seemingly verifiable package, whose signature header was modified, to cause RPM database corruption and execute code. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data integrity, confidentiality, and system availability.",
"evidence": "osv:CVE-2021-20271",
"products": [],
"severity": "high",
"structured": {
"id": "CVE-2021-20271",
"aliases": [
"CVE-2021-20271"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"repo": "https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm",
"type": "GIT",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "8c6c17759781da75c6aff861fab721d91269c0f9"
},
{
"fixed": "a8eade3f53f9c64543813eac8cd5dad392eaae3b"
},
{
"introduced": "cd7f9303ef1070f027493cad7d00bc66935af2a0"
},
{
"fixed": "3659b8a04f5b8bacf6535e0124e7fe23f15286bd"
},
{
"introduced": "a071f1d0dfcb801c5cf11cc2d716abfa23f8c1ad"
},
{
"last_affected": "32a49f73d760f4162a37188073efd6bf5d464d9b"
},
{
"fixed": "d6a86b5e69e46cc283b1e06c92343319beb42e21"
}
],
"database_specific": {
"extracted_events": [
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.15.0"
},
{
"fixed": "4.15.1.3"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.16.0"
},
{
"fixed": "4.16.1.3"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.15.0:alpha:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.15.0-alpha"
},
{
"last_affected": "4.15.0-alpha"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.15.0:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.15.0-beta1"
},
{
"last_affected": "4.15.0-beta1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.15.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.15.0-rc1"
},
{
"last_affected": "4.15.0-rc1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.16.0:alpha:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.16.0-alpha"
},
{
"last_affected": "4.16.0-alpha"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.16.0:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.16.0-beta2"
},
{
"last_affected": "4.16.0-beta2"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.16.0:beta3:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.16.0-beta3"
},
{
"last_affected": "4.16.0-beta3"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:rpm:rpm:4.16.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.16.0-rc1"
},
{
"last_affected": "4.16.0-rc1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"range": [
{
"fixed": "d6a86b5e69e46cc283b1e06c92343319beb42e21"
}
],
"source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
}
]
}
}
],
"versions": [
"4.15.0-alpha",
"4.15.0-beta1",
"4.15.0-rc1",
"4.16.0-alpha",
"4.16.0-beta2",
"4.16.0-beta3",
"4.16.0-rc1",
"rpm-4.15.1-release",
"rpm-4.16.1.2-release",
"rpm-4.16.1.1-release",
"rpm-4.16.1-release",
"rpm-4.16.0-release",
"rpm-4.16.0-beta3",
"rpm-4.16.0-rc1",
"rpm-4.16.0-beta2",
"rpm-4.16.0-alpha",
"rpm-4.15.0-release",
"rpm-4.15.0-alpha"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2021-20271.json",
"vanir_signatures": [
{
"id": "CVE-2021-20271-a263355a",
"digest": {
"length": 1162,
"function_hash": "20048171095207656906286157320215457454"
},
"source": "https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm/commit/d6a86b5e69e46cc283b1e06c92343319beb42e21",
"target": {
"file": "lib/package.c",
"function": "rpmReadPackageFile"
},
"deprecated": false,
"signature_type": "Function",
"signature_version": "v1"
},
{
"id": "CVE-2021-20271-bb178e26",
"digest": {
"length": 1479,
"function_hash": "42007002990315704298120220962834331013"
},
"source": "https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm/commit/d6a86b5e69e46cc283b1e06c92343319beb42e21",
"target": {
"file": "lib/package.c",
"function": "headerMergeLegacySigs"
},
"deprecated": false,
"signature_type": "Function",
"signature_version": "v1"
},
{
"id": "CVE-2021-20271-c02cf37b",
"digest": {
"threshold": 0.9,
"line_hashes": [
"24275801739176814445790225036514810367",
"146449676550170976494015790418581282484",
"59692120730519522461031139487139021994",
"237438668882707351528086875273107835415",
"188253714955682294875770722574693963655",
"95712636666319716016571947362863082458",
"92311055355198149853447891803132470773",
"42131774137503273138337216115590656444",
"153884652419611992565169832839796207502",
"74644144116301880418020155257845471982",
"2104988193872832483380127340680905878",
"234443884060578478950190847478188321346",
"167475506737928333071182665248974898425",
"157394582667230566873922788279107459757",
"82059186512116620320158458564266100352",
"233485225200727645330135368487841999587",
"85657501174146104478799331414154896576",
"174870900622258089107480236762771057153",
"34907199479596137037591206953449485309",
"321147128575744151003330869327601389016",
"303393578101490065906516034843403880281",
"318437721489588304315821989682496995184",
"38006337004050367849014125494971575537",
"175061254615743437520094884364105697233",
"77363606146383857009656345556156423230",
"186480394492936430498021022304037294784",
"181770857753770097517746901524745191908",
"30913405040175035534764784102056841699",
"236889513680266079035851799639803890533",
"194114407232039335095556079570329067676",
"249022990065958714816111991339255160395",
"54960641298191277884886659083762790780",
"127992657957590043811760327646776932046",
"304698036602247774143869017978433554732",
"250744351131081829530625072565675217722",
"36656784869560343249949288503597589348",
"170547716959680533076677559189261145640",
"121713541064240962798640750646580808579",
"186762389796691736500395706047092641008",
"23200626527644494473308427936974857811",
"154918870431555591112890759389551536328",
"291858413894433898125463120663368392364",
"225718472791953043972022796009114754190",
"108801656677693814302435191275033585710",
"193447927343475926499602080310565766494",
"113550618227067861099788710945551064385",
"274435711931836628681103840266923684609",
"108891629451031021363620012033597097014",
"157902946756436242482462236470357416589",
"304063467140049501021933125641651087250",
"102707166771665844076021244975419672366",
"294336125026284019428175307101295050889",
"116851542740175563369683430539555981016",
"216200495206398465997049687262527180217",
"79191873615801662582418252464382605832",
"164978430970920805091239061673019719106",
"282921449663537929048759682202928539995",
"90973143989974989522332153355976316126",
"287245724537977820385873217815643351515",
"44802529730012567971170220922554565749",
"268690657842368192836387303599115813050",
"144010947238307124958539323349633054015",
"14672178449306596253776894693424682853",
"254948836728881060187961985032227148746",
"224914003870438559021890205490402143160",
"96805489812739485968183963160616398206",
"236564457060156221558607823212047790920",
"48978219028165198047704726192602746515",
"297977904474851821660162425641097275999",
"8984916548224638021709965003739438299",
"255246192547716801015089390704859725892",
"33918144162416462101818060040215351961",
"170964427126840192885688019616971642955",
"105311074047723310597162550352577188475",
"67340489106477276261440066076091306008",
"61220301857844028518512203141058005866",
"25397590813383690955468288709214786215",
"68862407019424048919648730631461319197"
]
},
"source": "https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm/commit/d6a86b5e69e46cc283b1e06c92343319beb42e21",
"target": {
"file": "lib/package.c"
},
"deprecated": false,
"signature_type": "Line",
"signature_version": "v1"
}
],
"vanir_signatures_modified": "2026-10-20T14:15:11Z"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-20T14:15:11.934461620Z",
"provider": "osv",
"references": [
"https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TMGXO3W6DHPO62GJ4VVF5DEUX5DRUR5K/",
"https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/VHRPNBCRPDJHHQE3MBPSZK4H7X2IM7AC/",
"https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/YILPBTPSBRYL4POBI3F4YUSVPSOQNJBY/",
"https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202107-43",
"https://www.starwindsoftware.com/security/sw-20220805-0002/",
"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1934125",
"https://github.com/rpm-software-management/rpm/commit/d6a86b5e69e46cc283b1e06c92343319beb42e21"
],
"provider_metadata": {
"unresolved_ranges": [
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "fedoraproject:fedora",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "32"
},
{
"last_affected": "32"
},
{
"introduced": "33"
},
{
"last_affected": "33"
},
{
"introduced": "34"
},
{
"last_affected": "34"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "redhat:enterprise_linux",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "8.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san:v8:build14398:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "v8-build14398"
},
{
"last_affected": "v8-build14398"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
}
]
}
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2021-20271",
"evidence": "/id"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 388771,
"published_at": "2021-03-26T17:15:13+00:00"
}