Octorpki
CVE-2021-3978
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Least privilege enforcement
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, high complexity, low privileges required, user interaction required. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.07%. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A local attacker with access to the system could escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
When copying files with rsync, octorpki uses the "-a" flag 0, which forces rsync to copy binaries with the suid bit set as root. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5). This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Apply principle of least privilege, validate privilege transitions, implement proper role separation.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in go
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269), which allows attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access. When copying files with rsync, octorpki uses the "-a" flag 0, which forces rsync to copy binaries with the suid bit set as root. Since the provided service definition defaults to root ( https://github.com/cloudflare/cfrpki/blob/master/package/octorpki.service ) this could allow for a vector, when combined with another vulnerability that causes octorpki to process a malicious TAL file, for a local privilege escalation. Affected products include: Cloudflare Octorpki.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
When copying files with rsync, octorpki uses the "-a" flag 0, which forces rsync to copy binaries with the suid bit set as root. Since the provided service definition defaults to root ( https://github.com/cloudflare/cfrpki/blob/master/package/octorpki.service ) this could allow for a vector, when combined with another vulnerability that causes octorpki to process a malicious TAL file, for a local privilege escalation.
Executive ViewAI
CVE-2021-3978 presents notable security risk, a improper privilege management vulnerability rated CVSS 7.5. Attackers could escalate their privileges to gain elevated access beyond their authorized level. Organizations should apply vendor updates when available and consider compensating controls in the interim.
Apply vendor patch. If immediate patching is not feasible: (1) Implement network-level access controls to limit exposure; (2) Enable enhanced monitoring and alerting; (3) Apply principle of least privilege.
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
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.
Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org
OctoRPKI does not escape a URI with a filename containing "..", this allows a repository to create a file, (ex. Rated cr
Attackers can create long chains of CAs that would lead to OctoRPKI exceeding its max iterations parameter. Rated high s
OctoRPKI does not limit the length of a connection, allowing for a slowloris DOS attack to take place which makes OctoRP
OctoRPKI does not limit the depth of a certificate chain, allowing for a CA to create children in an ad-hoc fashion, the
Any CA issuer in the RPKI can trick OctoRPKI prior to 1.3.0 into emitting an invalid VRP "MaxLength" value, causing RTR
OctoRPKI tries to load the entire contents of a repository in memory, and in the case of a GZIP bomb, unzip it in memory
If the ROA that a repository returns contains too many bits for the IP address then OctoRPKI will crash. Rated medium se
OctoRPKI crashes when encountering a repository that returns an invalid ROA (just an encoded NUL (\0) character). Rated
Exploit-DB