vulnerability

Apache HTTPD: CVE-2021-41773: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory

Severity
4
CVSS
(AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N)
Published
Oct 5, 2021
Added
Oct 6, 2021
Modified
Apr 9, 2026

Description

A flaw was found in a change made to path normalization in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.49. An attacker could use a path traversal attack to map URLs to files outside the directories configured by Alias-like directives. If files outside of these directories are not protected by the usual default configuration "require all denied", these requests can succeed. If CGI scripts are also enabled for these aliased pathes, this could allow for remote code execution. This issue is known to be exploited in the wild. This issue only affects Apache 2.4.49 and not earlier versions. The fix in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.50 was found to be incomplete, see CVE-2021-42013.

Solution

apache-httpd-upgrade-latest

References

    Title
    Rapid7 Labs

    2026 Global Threat Landscape Report

    The predictive window has collapsed. Exploitation follows disclosure in days. See how attackers are accelerating and how to stay ahead.