Bitcoin
CVE-2021-3401
CRITICAL
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization Argument sanitization
|
| Impact | CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | This vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network. Successful exploitation could compromise the critical-severity affected system. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
Bitcoin Core before 0.19.0 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code when another application unsafely passes the -platformpluginpath argument to the bitcoin-qt program, as demonstrated. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.
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Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-88. Bitcoin Core before 0.19.0 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code when another application unsafely passes the -platformpluginpath argument to the bitcoin-qt program, as demonstrated by an x-scheme-handler/bitcoin handler for a .desktop file or a web browser. NOTE: the discoverer states "I believe that this vulnerability cannot actually be exploited." Affected products include: Bitcoin. Version information: before 0.19.0.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
Bitcoin Core before 0.19.0 might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code when another application unsafely passes the -platformpluginpath argument to the bitcoin-qt program, as demonstrated by an x-scheme-handler/bitcoin handler for a .desktop file or a web browser. NOTE: the discoverer states "I believe that this vulnerability cannot actually be exploited."
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
Bitcoin-Qt 0.5.0.x before 0.5.0.5; 0.5.1.x, 0.5.2.x, and 0.5.3.x before 0.5.3.1; and 0.6.x before 0.6.0rc4 on Windows do
Memory management and protection issues in Bitcoin Core v22 allows attackers to modify the stored sending address within
bitcoind in Bitcoin Core through 0.21.0 can create a new file in an arbitrary directory (e.g., outside the ~/.bitcoin di
Unspecified vulnerability in bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt before 0.4.6, 0.5.x before 0.5.5, 0.6.0.x before 0.6.0.7, and 0.6.x
The Bitcoin protocol, as used in bitcoind before 0.4.4, wxBitcoin, Bitcoin-Qt, and other programs, does not properly han
bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt 0.8.0 and earlier allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (electricity consumption)
The alert functionality in bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt before 0.7.0 supports different character representations of the same
bitcoind and Bitcoin-Qt before 0.4.9rc2, 0.5.x before 0.5.8rc2, 0.6.x before 0.6.5rc2, and 0.7.x before 0.7.3rc2, and wx
The Bitcoin Proof-of-Work algorithm does not consider a certain attack methodology related to 80-byte block headers with
Bitcoin Core before 0.20.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via a malformed GETDATA
Bitcoin Core before 0.15.0 allows a denial of service (OOM kill of a daemon process) via a flood of minimum difficulty h
Bitcoin Core before 0.20.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via a crafted INV m
Exploit-DB