# CVE-2021-33294: Denial of service in n/a

> Attackers can cause a denial of service via infinite loop in elfutils by providing a crafted file.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Jul 2023
- **Updated:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-33294, GHSA-827x-xjfm-cw2c, OESA-2023-1444, OESA-2023-1445, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-33294

## What is CVE-2021-33294?

CVE-2021-33294 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 Jul 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

In elfutils 0.183, an infinite loop was found in the function handle_symtab in readelf.c .Which allows attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via crafted file.

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-33294?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Elfutils Project Elfutils.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-33294?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2021-33294 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2021-33294 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2018-8769](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-8769/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2014-0172](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-0172/): Integer overflow in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2019-7148](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-7148/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2014-9447](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-9447/): Path traversal in n/a (medium 6.4)
- [CVE-2020-21047](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-21047/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-33294 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-33294 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 Jul 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2021-33294 exists.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2021-33294/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-33294/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-33294
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-33294
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-33294

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-33294/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.