CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2021-42097 — GNU Mailman before 2.1.35 may allow remote Privilege Escalation

High CVSS 8.5

GNU Mailman before 2.1.35 may allow remote Privilege Escalation. A csrf_token value is not specific to a single user account. An attacker can obtain a value within the context of an unprivileged user account, and then use that value in a CSRF attack against an admin (e.g., for account takeover).

Severity
High
CVSS
8.5 (2.0)
Published
2021-10-21
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-352

Affected products

  • gnu / mailman
  • debian / debian_linux / 10.0

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

The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.