CVE-2021-45985

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over...

7.5 HighFix available

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector: Network
Complexity: Low
Privileges needed: None
User interaction: None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Exploit likelihood

1.42%Up 1.4 points since Apr 11, 2023

What each source reports

NVD Score used 7.5

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: CVE-2021-45985
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness: CWE-787
Updated: 2026-11-02

CVE List 7.5

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: CVE-2021-45985
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness: CWE-787
Updated: 2026-11-02

EUVDEUVD-2021-32691 7.5

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: EUVD-2021-32691
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-03

GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-pxvf-cp3x-784h 7.5

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over...

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: GHSA-pxvf-cp3x-784h
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness: CWE-787
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVAZL-26047 7.5

CVE-2021-45985 affecting package lua for versions less than 5.4.3-5

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: AZL-26047
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVAZL-26155 7.5

CVE-2021-45985 affecting package memcached for versions less than 1.6.13-3

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: AZL-26155
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

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OSVAZL-26158 7.5

CVE-2021-45985 affecting package ntopng for versions less than 5.2.1-2

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: AZL-26158
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVAZL-35066 7.5

CVE-2021-45985 affecting package ntopng for versions less than 5.2.1-2

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: AZL-35066
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-05

OSV 7.5

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: CVE-2021-45985
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2021-45985 7.5

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: DEBIAN-CVE-2021-45985
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVJLSEC-2026-559 7.5

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: JLSEC-2026-559
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVOESA-2023-1241 7.5

lua security update

Lua is a powerful, efficient, lightweight, embeddable scripting language. It supports procedural programming, object-oriented programming, functional programming, data-driven programming, and data description.

Security Fix(es):

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.(CVE-2021-45985)

Record: OESA-2023-1241
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVOESA-2023-1242 7.5

lua security update

Security Fix(es):

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.(CVE-2021-45985)

Record: OESA-2023-1242
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2021-45985 7.5

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: UBUNTU-CVE-2021-45985
CVSS 3.1: 7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated: 2026-11-02

OSVBIT-lua-2021-45985 No score

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Record: BIT-lua-2021-45985
Updated: 2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
Package	Affected	Fixed
`lua` Azure Linux:2	before 5.4.3-5	5.4.3-5
`memcached` Azure Linux:2	before 1.6.13-3	1.6.13-3
`ntopng` Azure Linux:2	before 5.2.1-2	5.2.1-2
`ntopng` Azure Linux:3	before 5.2.1-2	5.2.1-2
`lua` Bitnami	5.4.0 up to 5.4.4	5.4.4
`lua5.4` Debian:12	before 5.4.4-1	5.4.4-1
`lua5.4` Debian:13	before 5.4.4-1	5.4.4-1
`lua5.4` Debian:14	before 5.4.4-1	5.4.4-1
`Lua_jll` Julia	5.4.3+0 up to 5.4.4+0	5.4.4+0
`lua` openEuler:22.03-LTS	before 5.4.3-11.oe2203	5.4.3-11.oe2203

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Affected packages
Package	Affected	Fixed
`lua` openEuler:22.03-LTS-SP1	before 5.4.3-11.oe2203sp1	5.4.3-11.oe2203sp1
`darktable` Ubuntu:16.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 1.6.8-11.6.9-12.0.0-12.0.1-12.0.3-1	None known
`vifm` Ubuntu:16.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.7.8-30.7.8-3build1	None known
`darktable` Ubuntu:18.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 2.2.5-22.4.0-12.4.1-12.4.2-1	None known
`vifm` Ubuntu:18.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.9-10.9.1-1	None known
`darktable` Ubuntu:20.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 2.6.0-12.6.2-32.6.3-12.6.3-1build12.6.3-1build23.0.1-0ubuntu1	None known
`tup` Ubuntu:20.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.7.8-3	None known
`vifm` Ubuntu:20.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.10.1-20.10.1-3	None known
`darktable` Ubuntu:22.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 3.6.0-0ubuntu13.8.0-23.8.0-33.8.0-3build13.8.0-3build23.8.1-13.8.1-2	None known
`tup` Ubuntu:22.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.7.8-3	None known
`vifm` Ubuntu:22.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.10.1-40.12-1	None known
`darktable` Ubuntu:24.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 4.4.2-1ubuntu14.4.2-1ubuntu24.4.2-1.14.4.2-1.1build14.6.1-24.6.1-2build34.6.1-2build44.6.1-2ubuntu1	None known
`tup` Ubuntu:24.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.7.11-30.7.11-4	None known
`vifm` Ubuntu:24.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.12-10.12-1build10.12-1build2	None known
`darktable` Ubuntu:25.10	All versions, plus listed versions 5.0.1-0ubuntu15.0.1-0ubuntu25.0.1-15.0.1-2	None known
`tup` Ubuntu:25.10	All versions, plus listed versions 0.8-10.8-1build1	None known
`vifm` Ubuntu:25.10	All versions, plus listed versions 0.12-1build20.14-3	None known
`darktable` Ubuntu:26.10	All versions, plus listed versions 5.4.1-15.4.1-1build15.4.1-1build2	None known
`tup` Ubuntu:26.10	All versions, plus listed versions 0.8-5	None known
`vifm` Ubuntu:26.10	All versions, plus listed versions 0.14.3-10.14.3-30.14.4-1	None known
`darktable` Ubuntu:26.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 5.0.1-25.2.1-15.2.1-1build15.2.1-1build25.4.0-15.4.1-1	None known
`tup` Ubuntu:26.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.8-1build10.8-30.8-40.8-5	None known
`vifm` Ubuntu:26.04:LTS	All versions, plus listed versions 0.14-30.14.3-1	None known

History

History
Recorded	Changed	Sources
Nov 5, 2026	facts	OSV
Nov 3, 2026	aliases	EUVD
Nov 2, 2026	first indexed	CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2021-45985 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Lua, published April 10, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.42%, the 72nd percentile. Fixed in lua 5.4.3-5.

References

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