CVE-2021-42521: VTK NULL pointer dereference vulnerability

CVE-2021-42521 · Severity: low · CVSS 3.1 · Published 2022-08-25

There is a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in VTK, and it lies in IO/Infovis/vtkXMLTreeReader.cxx. The vendor didn't check the return value of libxml2 API 'xmlDocGetRootElement', and try to dereference it. It is unsafe as the return value can be NULL and that NULL pointer dereference may crash the application.

Technologies: vtk (PyPI). Vendors: PyPI.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2021-42521 exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2021-42521 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2021-42521?
Low severity, with a CVSS score of 3.1, published 25 August 2022.
Which products and versions are affected?
vtk (PyPI) ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,fixed=9.0.1.
Is there a fix for CVE-2021-42521?
Yes. vtk (PyPI): upgrade to 9.0.1 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
Am I affected by CVE-2021-42521?
Check whether you run vtk (PyPI) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

  • vtk (PyPI): upgrade to 9.0.1 or later
    pip install "vtk>=9.0.1"

Affected products

  • vtk (PyPI) ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,fixed=9.0.1

Identifiers

  • CVE-2021-42521
  • GHSA-xfhg-9pjg-xg7g
  • PYSEC-2022-255

This page as Markdown. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link back.