Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2021-25682 affects Canonical apport, Ubuntu’s crash reporting tool. A local low-privileged user could exploit improper parsing of kernel process status data to cross a security boundary, with potential confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact according to the CVSS score.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority local privilege-boundary issue for Ubuntu systems, especially shared servers and developer environments. It is not described as remotely exploitable from the internet, but local access could turn into broad system impact.
Technical view
The issue is in apport’s get_pid_info() function, which improperly parses /proc/pid/status from the kernel. The supplied CVSS vector is local, low complexity, low privileges, no user interaction, scope changed, and high impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on Ubuntu systems with Canonical apport installed at the listed affected versions: 2.20.1, 2.20.9, 2.20.11-0ubuntu27, or 2.20.11-0ubuntu50. The attack vector is local, so risk increases where untrusted users or workloads can run code on the host.
Exploitation context
The supplied data does not show CISA KEV listing or any cited evidence of active exploitation. The risk is still material because the CVSS vector indicates local, low-complexity exploitation by a low-privileged user without user interaction.
Researcher notes
Key evidence is limited to the CVE description, CVSS vector, affected apport versions, and Launchpad reference. The bundle does not provide exploit details, fixed package versions, or confirmed mitigations, so validation should focus on version exposure and Canonical guidance.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory Ubuntu systems with apport installed.
- Compare installed apport versions against the affected version list.
- Apply Canonical or Ubuntu apport updates when available.
- Restrict local shell access to trusted users and workloads.
- Review vendor guidance before using nonstandard workarounds.
Validation and detection
- Check whether apport is installed on Linux hosts.
- Record the installed apport package version.
- Confirm affected versions are remediated through vendor guidance.
- Prioritize shared servers, developer hosts, and multi-user systems.
- Track remediation status separately from internet exposure.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-20: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-25682 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H26Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apport/+bug/1912326CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Input Validation
Improper Input Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.