CVE-2021-3468: Medium severity Avahi Avahi vulnerability

Published Mar 10, 2021
·
Updated

A flaw was found in avahi deamon. Denial of service can be triggered by writing long lines to /run/avahi-daemon/socket resulting in an unresponsive busy-loop of the daemon.

References:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=984938

Other sources

A flaw was found in avahi in versions 0.6 up to 0.8. The event used to signal the termination of the client connection on the avahi Unix socket is not correctly handled in the clientwork function, allowing a local attacker to trigger an infinite loop. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to the availability of the avahi service, which becomes unresponsive after this flaw is triggered.

MITRE

Affected Software

4 affected componentsFixes available
debian/avahi<=0.7-4, <=0.8-5
0.8-70.8-5+deb11u2
Avahi Avahi>=0.6<=0.8
Debian Debian Linux=9.0
debian/avahi
0.8-5+deb11u20.8-5+deb11u30.8-10+deb12u10.8-160.8-17

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade debian/avahi to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0.8-7Fixed in 0.8-5+deb11u2
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade debian/avahi to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0.8-5+deb11u2Fixed in 0.8-5+deb11u3Fixed in 0.8-10+deb12u1Fixed in 0.8-16Fixed in 0.8-17
  3. Compensating control

    Mitigate the local denial-of-service by restricting access to the Avahi daemon Unix socket at /run/avahi-daemon/socket so that only trusted local users/services can write to it.

Event History

Mar 16, 2021
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·05:12 PM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Jun 2, 2021
CVE Published
via MITRE·03:09 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·03:09 PM
DescriptionWeakness
Data Sourced
via NVD·04:15 PM
DescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software
Sep 11, 2025
Data Sourced
via Debian·02:30 PM
DescriptionAffected Software
Free Weekly Intel

Don't miss critical vulnerabilities

Join thousands of security professionals who receive our weekly digest of trending CVEs, zero-days, and exploited vulnerabilities.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is CVE-2021-3468?

CVE-2021-3468 is a vulnerability found in avahi versions 0.6 up to 0.8 where a flaw in how the termination of the client connection on the avahi Unix socket is handled can allow a local attacker to trigger an infinite loop.

2

What is the severity of CVE-2021-3468?

The severity of CVE-2021-3468 is medium with a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5.

3

Which software versions of avahi are affected?

Versions 0.6 up to 0.8 of avahi are affected by CVE-2021-3468.

4

How can a local attacker exploit CVE-2021-3468?

A local attacker can exploit CVE-2021-3468 by triggering an infinite loop through the mishandling of the client connection termination event on the avahi Unix socket.

5

Are there any fixes or patches available for CVE-2021-3468?

Yes, there are fixes and patches available for CVE-2021-3468. It is recommended to update to a version of avahi that is not affected by this vulnerability.

Contact

SecAlerts Pty Ltd.
132 Wickham Terrace
Fortitude Valley,
QLD 4006, Australia
info@secalerts.co
By using SecAlerts services, you agree to our services end-user license agreement. This website is safeguarded by reCAPTCHA and governed by the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. All names, logos, and brands of products are owned by their respective owners, and any usage of these names, logos, and brands for identification purposes only does not imply endorsement. If you possess any content that requires removal, please get in touch with us.
© 2026 SecAlerts Pty Ltd.
ABN: 70 645 966 203, ACN: 645 966 203