CVE-2021-42343
Workers for local Dask clusters mistakenly listened on public interfaces
An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
9.8
An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
CVE-2021-42343- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 6.8 Medium
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
CVE-2021-42343- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-0050 No score
An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
EUVD-2021-0050- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-hwqr-f3v9-hwxr
9.3
Workers for local Dask clusters mistakenly listened on public interfaces
Versions of distributed earlier than 2021.10.0 had a potential security vulnerability relating to single-machine Dask clusters.
Clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client() (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method AND running on a machine that has these ports exposed could be used by a sophisticated attacker to enable remote code execution. Users running on machines with standard firewalls in place, or using clusters created via cluster objects other than LocalCluster (e.g. dask_kubernetes.KubeCluster) should not be affected. This vulnerability is documented in CVE-2021-42343, and was fixed in version 2021.10.0 (PR #5427).
- Record
GHSA-hwqr-f3v9-hwxr- CVSS 4.0
- 9.3 Critical
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-668
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-j8fq-86c5-5v2r
9.3
Duplicate Advisory: Remote code execution in dask
Duplicate Advisory
This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-hwqr-f3v9-hwxr. This link is maintained to preserve external references.
Original Description
An issue was discovered in Dask (aka python-dask) through 2021.09.1. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
GHSA-j8fq-86c5-5v2r- CVSS 4.0
- 9.3 Critical
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-668
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVALPINE-CVE-2021-42343
9.8
An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
ALPINE-CVE-2021-42343- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
Show 11 moreShow less
OSV
9.8
An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
CVE-2021-42343- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2021-42343
9.8
An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2021-42343- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-hwqr-f3v9-hwxr
9.3
Workers for local Dask clusters mistakenly listened on public interfaces
Versions of distributed earlier than 2021.10.0 had a potential security vulnerability relating to single-machine Dask clusters.
Clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client() (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method AND running on a machine that has these ports exposed could be used by a sophisticated attacker to enable remote code execution. Users running on machines with standard firewalls in place, or using clusters created via cluster objects other than LocalCluster (e.g. dask_kubernetes.KubeCluster) should not be affected. This vulnerability is documented in CVE-2021-42343, and was fixed in version 2021.10.0 (PR #5427).
- Record
GHSA-hwqr-f3v9-hwxr- CVSS 4.0
- 9.3 Critical
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-668
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-j8fq-86c5-5v2r
9.3
Duplicate Advisory: Remote code execution in dask
Duplicate Advisory
This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-hwqr-f3v9-hwxr. This link is maintained to preserve external references.
Original Description
An issue was discovered in Dask (aka python-dask) through 2021.09.1. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
GHSA-j8fq-86c5-5v2r- CVSS 4.0
- 9.3 Critical
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-668
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2021-42343
9.8
An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2021-42343- CVSS 3.1
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:11766-1 No score
python38-distributed-2022.1.0-1.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the python38-distributed-2022.1.0-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:11766-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:13920-1 No score
python310-distributed-2024.4.2-1.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the python310-distributed-2024.4.2-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:13920-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2026:11043-1 No score
python313-distributed-2026.6.0-1.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the python313-distributed-2026.6.0-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2026:11043-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2021-387 No score
An issue was discovered in Dask (aka python-dask) through 2021.09.1. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
PYSEC-2021-387- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2021-871 No score
An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
PYSEC-2021-871- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2021-872 No score
Withdrawn as duplicate of PYSEC-2021-871. An issue was discovered in the Dask distributed package before 2021.10.0 for Python. Single machine Dask clusters started with dask.distributed.LocalCluster or dask.distributed.Client (which defaults to using LocalCluster) would mistakenly configure their respective Dask workers to listen on external interfaces (typically with a randomly selected high port) rather than only on localhost. A Dask cluster created using this method (when running on a machine that has an applicable port exposed) could be used by a sophisticated attacker to achieve remote code execution.
- Record
PYSEC-2021-872- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
distributedPyPI |
before 2021.10.0 | 2021.10.0 |
py3-daskAlpine:v3.16 |
before 2022.2.0-r0 | 2022.2.0-r0 |
py3-daskAlpine:v3.17 |
before 2022.2.0-r0 | 2022.2.0-r0 |
py3-daskAlpine:v3.18 |
before 2022.2.0-r0 | 2022.2.0-r0 |
py3-daskAlpine:v3.19 |
before 2022.2.0-r0 | 2022.2.0-r0 |
py3-daskAlpine:v3.20 |
before 2022.2.0-r0 | 2022.2.0-r0 |
py3-daskAlpine:v3.21 |
before 2022.2.0-r0 | 2022.2.0-r0 |
py3-daskAlpine:v3.22 |
before 2022.2.0-r0 | 2022.2.0-r0 |
py3-daskAlpine:v3.23 |
before 2022.2.0-r0 | 2022.2.0-r0 |
py3-daskAlpine:v3.24 |
before 2022.2.0-r0 | 2022.2.0-r0 |
Show 10 moreShow less
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
dask.distributedDebian:12 |
before 2021.09.1+ds.1-2 | 2021.09.1+ds.1-2 |
dask.distributedDebian:13 |
before 2021.09.1+ds.1-2 | 2021.09.1+ds.1-2 |
dask.distributedDebian:14 |
before 2021.09.1+ds.1-2 | 2021.09.1+ds.1-2 |
distributedPyPI |
before 2021.10.0, plus listed versions 1.0.01.0.11.0.21.1.01.10.0 Show 45 moreShow less1.10.11.10.21.11.01.11.11.11.21.11.31.12.01.12.11.12.21.13.01.13.11.13.21.13.31.14.01.14.11.14.31.15.01.15.0rc11.15.11.15.21.16.01.16.11.16.21.16.31.17.01.17.11.18.01.18.11.18.21.18.31.19.01.19.11.19.21.19.31.2.01.2.11.2.21.2.31.20.01.20.11.20.21.21.01.21.11.21.21.21.3 |
2021.10.0 |
daskPyPI |
before 2021.10.0, plus listed versions 0.10.00.10.10.10.20.11.00.11.1 Show 45 moreShow less0.12.00.13.00.13.0rc10.14.00.14.10.14.20.14.30.15.00.15.10.15.20.15.30.15.40.16.00.16.10.17.00.17.10.17.20.17.30.17.40.17.50.18.00.18.10.18.20.19.00.19.10.19.20.19.30.19.40.2.00.2.10.2.20.2.30.2.40.2.50.2.60.20.00.20.10.20.20.3.00.4.00.5.00.6.00.6.10.7.00.7.1 |
2021.10.0 |
dask.distributedUbuntu:18.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.18.0+ds.1-11.20.2+ds.1-11.20.2+ds.1-2 |
None known |
dask.distributedUbuntu:20.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.25.0+ds.1-1 |
None known |
python-distributedopenSUSE:Tumbleweed |
before 2022.1.0-1.1 | 2022.1.0-1.1 |
python-distributedopenSUSE:Tumbleweed |
before 2024.4.2-1.1 | 2024.4.2-1.1 |
python-distributedopenSUSE:Tumbleweed |
before 2026.6.0-1.1 | 2026.6.0-1.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, aliases, references | OSV | |
| affected | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2021-42343 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) in Anaconda Dask, published October 26, 2021. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 2.98%, the 87th percentile. Fixed in distributed 2021.10.0.
References
docs.dask.org/en/latest/changelog.html
github.com/dask/dask/tags
github.com/dask/distributed/security/advisories/GHSA-hwqr-f3v9-hwxr
github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/distributed/PYSEC-2021-871.yaml
github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/distributed/PYSEC-2021-872.yaml
github.com/dask/distributed/pull/5427
Show 11 moreShow less
github.com/dask/distributed/commit/afce4be8e05fb180e50a9d9e38465f1a82295e1b
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-42343
github.com/advisories/GHSA-hwqr-f3v9-hwxr
github.com/advisories/GHSA-j8fq-86c5-5v2r
github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/dask/PYSEC-2021-387.yaml
security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-42343
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-42343
github.com/dask/distributed
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-42343
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-42343
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-42343
Left out here: 185 versions. The JSON record has them.