# CVE-2021-42205: Denial of service in n/a

> Local attackers can crash the system by sending a specific IOCTL request to the ELAN Miniport touchpad driver due to double handling.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** 7 Nov 2022
- **Updated:** 2 May 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rpr6-4jj7-qxhw

## What is CVE-2021-42205?

CVE-2021-42205 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 7 Nov 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

ELAN Miniport touchpad Windows driver before 24.21.51.2, as used in PC hardware from multiple manufacturers, allows local users to cause a system crash by sending a certain IOCTL request, because that request is handled twice.

Weakness: CWE-703 (Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-42205?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Lenovo Elan Miniport Touchpad Driver.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-42205?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-42205 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-42205 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-42205 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- ELAN Miniport touchpad Windows driver before 24.21.51.2, as used in PC hardware from multiple manufacturers, allows local users to cause a system crash by sending a certain IOCTL request, because that request is handled twice. CVE project by @Sn0wAlice (github_poc): https://github.com/gmh5225/CVE-2021-42205

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-42205 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-42205 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 7 Nov 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-42205 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-2021-42205/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42205/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-42205
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-42205
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-42205

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42205/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.