CVE-2021-46320 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2021-46320
Vulnerability Scoring

7.5
/10
Very High Risk

Highly exploitable, CVE-2021-46320 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low
    Exploits can be performed without significant complexity or special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Network
    Vulnerability is exploitable over a network without physical access.
  • Privileges Required: None
    No privileges are required for exploitation.
  • Scope: Unchanged
    Exploit remains within the originally vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: None
    No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2021-46320 Details

Status: Modified

Last updated: 🕡 21 Nov 2024, 06:33 UTC
Originally published on: 🕛 04 Feb 2022, 12:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 1020 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

nvd@nist.gov

CVSS3 Type

Primary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

CVE-2021-46320 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2021-46320: In OpenZeppelin <=v4.4.0, initializer functions that are invoked separate from contract creation (the most prominent example being minimal proxies) may be reentered if they make an untrusted non-view external call. Once an initializer has finished running it can never be re-executed. However, an exception put in place to support multiple inheritance made reentrancy possible, breaking the expectation that there is a single execution.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2021-46320

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2021-46320 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2021-46320

With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2021-46320 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2021-46320, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2021-46320, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: None
    CVE-2021-46320 has no significant impact on data confidentiality.
  • Integrity: High
    CVE-2021-46320 could allow unauthorized modifications to data, potentially affecting system reliability and trust.
  • Availability: None
    CVE-2021-46320 does not impact system availability.

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 0.094% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 42.1% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 57.9% of others.

CVE-2021-46320 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-665

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • Leveraging Race Conditions CAPEC-26 The adversary targets a race condition occurring when multiple processes access and manipulate the same resource concurrently, and the outcome of the execution depends on the particular order in which the access takes place. The adversary can leverage a race condition by "running the race", modifying the resource and modifying the normal execution flow. For instance, a race condition can occur while accessing a file: the adversary can trick the system by replacing the original file with their version and cause the system to read the malicious file.
  • Leveraging Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions CAPEC-29 This attack targets a race condition occurring between the time of check (state) for a resource and the time of use of a resource. A typical example is file access. The adversary can leverage a file access race condition by "running the race", meaning that they would modify the resource between the first time the target program accesses the file and the time the target program uses the file. During that period of time, the adversary could replace or modify the file, causing the application to behave unexpectedly.

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