# CVE-2021-29449: Multiple Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilities Pihole

> Attackers can escalate privileges on Pi-hole servers due to multiple vulnerabilities in the core application.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 14 Apr 2021
- **Updated:** 6 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3597-244c-wrpj

## What is CVE-2021-29449?

CVE-2021-29449 is a medium-severity vulnerability in pi-hole, published on 14 Apr 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Pi-hole is a Linux network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application. Multiple privilege escalation vulnerabilities were discovered in version 5.2.4 of Pi-hole core. See the referenced GitHub security advisory for details.

Weakness: CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command), CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-29449?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Pi-Hole Pi-Hole.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-29449?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-29449 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-29449 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2021-29449 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Pi-Hole Remove Commands Linux Priv Esc (metasploit)

## Other vulnerabilities in pi-hole

- [CVE-2020-8816](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8816/): Pi-Hole AdminLTE Remote Code Execution (critical 9.1, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-34087](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-34087/): Pi-Hole AdminLTE Whitelist (now 'Web Allowlist') Remote Command Execution (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2026-50130](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-50130/): Pi-hole: Local privilege escalation from `pihole` user to root via `/etc/pihole/logrotate` (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-11108](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11108/): File upload in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-13051](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-13051/): Pi-Hole 4.3 allows Command Injection. (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-29449 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-29449 is a medium-severity vulnerability in pi-hole, published on 14 Apr 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2021-29449 exists.

Affected product: pi-hole. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29449/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29449/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-29449
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-29449
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-29449

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29449/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.