Security Resilience

CVE-2021-37976

Access Control in Fedoraproject Fedora 33 … 35

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCAccess Control
Published
08 October 2021
Modified
24 October 2025
KEV Added
03 November 2021
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.20 97th percentile
Risk Priority 76 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2021-37976 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked in the top 3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

The vulnerability CVE-2021-37976 stems from an inappropriate implementation in the Memory component of Google Chrome versions prior to 94.0.4606.71. Classified under CWE-862, the flaw permits access to data that should remain isolated within process memory.

A remote attacker can exploit the issue by delivering a crafted HTML page, which, when rendered, allows extraction of potentially sensitive information from the browser process. The attack vector is network-based with low complexity, requires no privileges, and depends on user interaction via the UI, yielding a high confidentiality impact per the CVSS 6.5 rating while leaving integrity and availability unaffected.

Chrome release notes direct users to upgrade to version 94.0.4606.71 or later, with corresponding fixed packages distributed through Fedora repositories to close the exposure. No details on observed in-the-wild exploitation appear in the referenced sources.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Inappropriate implementation in Memory in Google Chrome prior to 94.0.4606.71 allowed a remote attacker to obtain potentially sensitive information from process memory via a crafted HTML page.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
03 November 2021

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2022-0543Same product: Debian Debian Linuxboth on KEV
CVE-2021-39226Same product: Fedoraproject Fedoraboth on KEV
CVE-2022-0492Same product: Debian Debian Linuxboth on KEV
CVE-2025-20362Shared CWE-862both on KEV
CVE-2025-6205Shared CWE-862both on KEV
CVE-2021-30657Shared CWE-862both on KEV
CVE-2021-30713Shared CWE-862both on KEV
CVE-2023-52163Shared CWE-862both on KEV
CVE-2024-57726Shared CWE-862both on KEV
CVE-2023-43090Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora

Affected Assets

google
chrome
≤ 94.0.4606.71
fedoraproject
fedora
33, 34, 35
debian
debian linux
10.0, 11.0

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-862

Requiring an access control policy ensures authorization checks are defined and applied for critical functions.

addresses: CWE-862

Reviews of access controls detect missing authorization checks on critical functions or resources.

addresses: CWE-862

Documenting permitted unauthenticated actions prevents missing authorization by making all exceptions explicit and subject to organizational review.

addresses: CWE-862

Requiring attribute association with information prevents authorization from being performed without necessary security or privacy context.

addresses: CWE-862

Mandating authorization prior to allowing remote connections addresses missing authorization for remote access.

addresses: CWE-862

Mandating authorization before wireless connections are allowed prevents missing authorization for wireless access.

addresses: CWE-862

The control requires authorization before allowing mobile device connections, directly mitigating missing authorization for system access.

addresses: CWE-862

Requiring approvals for account creation and specifying authorizations ensures authorization is not missing for system access.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

blocks

Requiring formal authorization of every access request before rights are granted ensures that checks for required permissions are performed, preventing missing authorization checks from being introduced.

blocks

A.5.18's provisioning, review, revocation and activation steps (incl. owner approval, SoD, timely removal on role/termination change) directly stop exploitation of missing authorization checks by ensuring no actor receives or retains rights to resources they should not access; the bounded remainder is that it cannot stop missing-authorization defects inside the enforcement mechanism itself once rights have been granted (e.g. flawed code that ignores the rights table).

finds

By requiring competent outsiders to verify that every function enforces the need-to-know principle, the control lowers the likelihood that missing authorization checks persist undetected.

blocks

A.5.8 integrates risk assessment, requirements elicitation and governance into the project lifecycle so that authorization needs can be identified and specified; it does not itself perform or enforce authorization checks, so the missing-authorization weakness can still be present and exploitable.

blocks

Security checkpoints and explicit authorization requirements in the design phase ensure that every sensitive function is paired with an access-control check, reducing missing-authorization defects.

blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (least privilege, default deny, security architecture integration, zero-trust never-trust/always-verify, dynamic access control) plus design reviews that directly specify and enforce authorization checks before access; this stops most missing-authorization cases from being exploitable, with a bounded remainder in non-architectural or legacy components where the principles were documented but not fully applied.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-862, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References