CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-3472 — A flaw was found in xorg-x11-server in versions before 1.20.11

High CVSS 7.8

A flaw was found in xorg-x11-server in versions before 1.20.11. An integer underflow can occur in xserver which can lead to a local privilege escalation. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.1)
Published
2021-04-26
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-191

Affected products

  • x.org / x_server
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 32
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 33
  • fedoraproject / fedora / 34
  • debian / debian_linux / 9.0
  • debian / debian_linux / 10.0

Showing 6 representative product identities from 8 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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