CVE-2021-3622
hivex: stack overflow due to recursive call of _get_children()
Severity
LowRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · August 2, 2021
Updated · June 28, 2026
Description
A flaw was found in the hivex library. This flaw allows an attacker to input a specially crafted Windows Registry (hive) file, which would cause hivex to recursively call the _get_children() function, leading to a stack overflow. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.
Statement
Any external program using the hivex library could be exposed to partial unavailability in case of a crash where a user can always retry the operation. As for libguestfs, a crash in hivex would not result in libguestfs crashing.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 4.3CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
CWE-400 · Uncontrolled Resource Consumption