CVE-2021-22940 Use after free in Node

What is CVE-2021-22940?

CVE-2021-22940 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 16 Aug 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Node.js before 16.6.1, 14.17.5, and 12.22.5 is vulnerable to a use after free attack where an attacker might be able to exploit the memory corruption, to change process behavior.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-22940?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including node and node-min. It affects 7 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Netapp Nextgen Api, Nodejs Node.js, Oracle Graalvm, Oracle Jd Edwards Enterpriseone Tools, Oracle Peoplesoft Enterprise Peopletools and 1 more.

How do I fix CVE-2021-22940?

Upgrade node to a fixed version for your release line: 12.22.5, 14.17.5 or 16.6.2.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2021-22940 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-22940 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as AZL-6745, BIT-node-2021-22940, BIT-node-min-2021-22940, DEBIAN-CVE-2021-22940, GHSA-6hhj-4h22-mrmm.