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CVE-2021-28543

Varnish varnish-modules before 0.17.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service ...

4.0 Medium

Varnish varnish-modules before 0.17.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon restart) in some configurations. This does not affect organizations that only install the Varnish Cache product; however, it is common to install both Varnish Cache and varnish-modules. Specifically, an assertion failure or NULL pointer dereference can be triggered in Varnish Cache through the varnish-modules header.append() and header.copy() functions. For some Varnish Configuration Language (VCL) files, this gives remote clients an opportunity to cause a Varnish Cache restart. A restart reduces overall availability and performance due to an increased number of cache misses, and may cause higher load on backend servers.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

Exploit likelihood

1.49%Up 0.5 points since Apr 14, 2021
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 4.0

Varnish varnish-modules before 0.17.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon restart) in some configurations. This does not affect organizations that only install the Varnish Cache product; however, it is common to install both Varnish Cache and varnish-modules. Specifically, an assertion failure or NULL pointer dereference can be triggered in Varnish Cache through the varnish-modules header.append() and header.copy() functions. For some Varnish Configuration Language (VCL) files, this gives remote clients an opportunity to cause a Varnish Cache restart. A restart reduces overall availability and performance due to an increased number of cache misses, and may cause higher load on backend servers.

Record
CVE-2021-28543
CVSS 3.1
4.0 MediumCVSS:3.1/AC:H/AV:N/A:L/C:N/I:N/PR:N/S:C/UI:N
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-15219 4.0

Varnish varnish-modules before 0.17.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon restart) in some configurations. This does not affect organizations that only install the Varnish Cache product; however, it is common to install both Varnish Cache and varnish-modules. Specifically, an assertion failure or NULL pointer dereference can be triggered in Varnish Cache through the varnish-modules header.append() and header.copy() functions. For some Varnish Configuration Language (VCL) files, this gives remote clients an opportunity to cause a Varnish Cache restart. A restart reduces overall availability and performance due to an increased number of cache misses, and may cause higher load on backend servers.

Record
EUVD-2021-15219
CVSS 3.1
4.0 MediumCVSS:3.1/AC:H/AV:N/A:L/C:N/I:N/PR:N/S:C/UI:N
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-jpm5-7xh4-qgjv 7.5

Varnish varnish-modules before 0.17.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service ...

Varnish varnish-modules before 0.17.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon restart) in some configurations. This does not affect organizations that only install the Varnish Cache product; however, it is common to install both Varnish Cache and varnish-modules. Specifically, an assertion failure or NULL pointer dereference can be triggered in Varnish Cache through the varnish-modules header.append() and header.copy() functions. For some Varnish Configuration Language (VCL) files, this gives remote clients an opportunity to cause a Varnish Cache restart. A restart reduces overall availability and performance due to an increased number of cache misses, and may cause higher load on backend servers.

Record
GHSA-jpm5-7xh4-qgjv
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-476
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 4.0

Varnish varnish-modules before 0.17.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon restart) in some configurations. This does not affect organizations that only install the Varnish Cache product; however, it is common to install both Varnish Cache and varnish-modules. Specifically, an assertion failure or NULL pointer dereference can be triggered in Varnish Cache through the varnish-modules header.append() and header.copy() functions. For some Varnish Configuration Language (VCL) files, this gives remote clients an opportunity to cause a Varnish Cache restart. A restart reduces overall availability and performance due to an increased number of cache misses, and may cause higher load on backend servers.

Record
CVE-2021-28543
CVSS 3.1
4.0 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L
CVSS 3.1
7.5 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.0
5.0 MediumAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
Weakness
CWE-476, CWE-617
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
aliasesEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD

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

In short

CVE-2021-28543 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 4.0) in Varnish-cache Varnish-modules, published March 16, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.49%, the 74th percentile. No source names a fixed version.

References

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