Unrated severityNVD Advisory· Published Mar 26, 2021· Updated Dec 3, 2025
CVE-2021-20197
CVE-2021-20197
Description
There is an open race window when writing output in the following utilities in GNU binutils version 2.35 and earlier:ar, objcopy, strip, ranlib. When these utilities are run as a privileged user (presumably as part of a script updating binaries across different users), an unprivileged user can trick these utilities into getting ownership of arbitrary files through a symlink.
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Affected products
83- osv-coords81 versionspkg:rpm/almalinux/binutils-develpkg:rpm/opensuse/binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Tumbleweedpkg:rpm/opensuse/bpftrace&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/bpftrace&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-aarch64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-aarch64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-arm-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-arm-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-avr-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-avr-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-epiphany-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-epiphany-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-hppa64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-hppa64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-hppa-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-hppa-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-i386-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-i386-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-ia64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-ia64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-m68k-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-m68k-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-mips-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-mips-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-ppc64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-ppc64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-ppc64le-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-ppc64le-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-ppc-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-ppc-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-riscv64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-riscv64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-rx-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-rx-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-s390-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-s390-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-s390x-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-s390x-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-sparc64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-sparc64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-sparc-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-sparc-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-spu-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-spu-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-x86_64-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.3pkg:rpm/opensuse/cross-xtensa-binutils&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.2pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=HPE%20Helion%20OpenStack%208pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Enterprise%20Storage%206pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20High%20Performance%20Computing%2015%20SP1-ESPOSpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20High%20Performance%20Computing%2015%20SP1-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20High%20Performance%20Computing%2015-ESPOSpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20High%20Performance%20Computing%2015-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Basesystem%2015%20SP2pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Basesystem%2015%20SP3pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Development%20Tools%2015%20SP2pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Development%20Tools%2015%20SP3pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Package%20Hub%2015%20SP2pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Package%20Hub%2015%20SP3pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2012%20SP2-BCLpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2012%20SP3-BCLpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2012%20SP3-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2012%20SP4-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2012%20SP5pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2015%20SP1-BCLpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2015%20SP1-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%2015-LTSSpkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2012%20SP3pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2012%20SP4pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2012%20SP5pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2015pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20for%20SAP%20Applications%2015%20SP1pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Software%20Development%20Kit%2012%20SP5pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20OpenStack%20Cloud%208pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20OpenStack%20Cloud%209pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20OpenStack%20Cloud%20Crowbar%208pkg:rpm/suse/binutils&distro=SUSE%20OpenStack%20Cloud%20Crowbar%209pkg:rpm/suse/bpftrace&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Development%20Tools%2015%20SP3pkg:rpm/suse/cross-ppc-binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Software%20Development%20Kit%2012%20SP5pkg:rpm/suse/cross-spu-binutils&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Software%20Development%20Kit%2012%20SP5
< 2.30-108.el8+ 80 more
- (no CPE)range: < 2.30-108.el8
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-1.3
- (no CPE)range: < 0.11.4-lp152.2.7.1
- (no CPE)range: < 0.11.4-3.2.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-lp152.4.9.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-6.23.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-6.23.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-6.23.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-6.23.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-7.21.2
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 0.11.4-3.2.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
- (no CPE)range: < 2.37-9.39.1
Patches
Vulnerability mechanics
References
4- security.gentoo.org/glsa/202208-30mitrevendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOO
- bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgimitrex_refsource_MISC
- security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210528-0009/mitrex_refsource_CONFIRM
- sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgimitrex_refsource_MISC
News mentions
0No linked articles in our index yet.