# CVE-2021-34173: Denial of service in n/a

> An attacker can cause a kernel panic and denial of service in Espressif ESP32 devices via a malformed beacon CSA frame, requiring a reboot to recover.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 14 Jul 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wc92-3pj9-g4g4

## What is CVE-2021-34173?

CVE-2021-34173 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Jul 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An attacker can cause a Denial of Service and kernel panic in v4.2 and earlier versions of Espressif esp32 via a malformed beacon csa frame. The device requires a reboot to recover.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-34173?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Espressif Esp32 Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-34173?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-34173 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-34173 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-34173 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2025-27840](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-27840/): Security feature bypass in ESP32 (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-34173 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-34173 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Jul 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-34173 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-2021-34173/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34173/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-34173
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-34173
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-34173

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34173/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.