ubuntu-cve-2021-36978
Vulnerability from osv_ubuntu
Published
2021-07-20 07:15
Modified
2026-04-22 07:40
Summary
Details

QPDF 9.x through 9.1.1 and 10.x through 10.0.4 has a heap-based buffer overflow in Pl_ASCII85Decoder::write (called from Pl_AES_PDF::flush and Pl_AES_PDF::finish) when a certain downstream write fails.

Severity
5.5 (Medium)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
N/A (UNKNOWN)
medium
References
To clipboard 

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "Available with Ubuntu Pro (Infra-only): https://ubuntu.com/pro",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "libqpdf21",
            "binary_version": "8.0.2-3~16.04.1+esm1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "qpdf",
            "binary_version": "8.0.2-3~16.04.1+esm1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:Pro:16.04:LTS",
        "name": "qpdf",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/qpdf@8.0.2-3~16.04.1+esm1?arch=source\u0026distro=esm-infra/xenial"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "8.0.2-3~16.04.1+esm1"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "5.1.3-2",
        "5.1.3-3",
        "5.2.0-1",
        "5.2.0-2",
        "6.0.0-2",
        "8.0.2-3~16.04.1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "No subscription required",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "libqpdf21",
            "binary_version": "8.0.2-3ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "qpdf",
            "binary_version": "8.0.2-3ubuntu0.1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:18.04:LTS",
        "name": "qpdf",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/qpdf@8.0.2-3ubuntu0.1?arch=source\u0026distro=bionic"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "8.0.2-3ubuntu0.1"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "7.0.0-1",
        "7.1.0-1",
        "7.1.1-1",
        "8.0.0-1",
        "8.0.1-1",
        "8.0.2-1",
        "8.0.2-3"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "No subscription required",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "libqpdf26",
            "binary_version": "9.1.1-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "qpdf",
            "binary_version": "9.1.1-1ubuntu0.1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:20.04:LTS",
        "name": "qpdf",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/qpdf@9.1.1-1ubuntu0.1?arch=source\u0026distro=focal"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "9.1.1-1ubuntu0.1"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "8.4.2-1",
        "9.0.2-1",
        "9.1.0-1",
        "9.1.1-1",
        "9.1.1-1build1"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [],
  "details": "QPDF 9.x through 9.1.1 and 10.x through 10.0.4 has a heap-based buffer overflow in Pl_ASCII85Decoder::write (called from Pl_AES_PDF::flush and Pl_AES_PDF::finish) when a certain downstream write fails.",
  "id": "UBUNTU-CVE-2021-36978",
  "modified": "2026-04-22T07:40:06Z",
  "published": "2021-07-20T07:15:00Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-36978"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://github.com/google/oss-fuzz-vulns/blob/main/vulns/qpdf/OSV-2020-2245.yaml"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-5026-1"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-5026-2"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-36978"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "USN-5026-1",
    "USN-5026-2"
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.7.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "medium",
      "type": "Ubuntu"
    }
  ],
  "upstream": [
    "CVE-2021-36978"
  ]
}



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  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
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