CVE-2021-22204

CRITICALNVD 6.89.0
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

“▲” beside the score: it is higher than NVD's CVSS score.

Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-17), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 6.8 retained for reference. The 9.0 is the floor for confirmed exploitation, not an impact rating: this CVE's impact severity (EG Severity) is CVSS 7.8 HIGH under GitHub Security Advisory CVSS. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, EPSS, GitHub Security Advisory, NVD CVSS v3
Trending — 3 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild

Also known asEUVD-2021-9350 (ENISA EUVD) · GHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 (GitHub Security Advisories)Source: ENISA EUVD

9.0EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV) — the reason this is sooner than the SSVC decision on this page at every mission impact level
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS PROB: >99.9%CVSS: 6.8Exploit: Metasploit · other public PoCExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

Improper neutralization of user data in the DjVu file format in ExifTool versions 7.44 and up allows arbitrary code execution when parsing the malicious image

CVSS v3
6.8
EG Score
9.0CRITICALhigh confidence
EG Risk
75
EG Risk 75/100

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.

How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)
Severity78% × 45%
Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 7.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.
Exploitation100% × 40%
Fixed at 100% for a CISA KEV listing: EchelonGraph's rule.
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).
Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
EPSS PROB
>99.9%
EPSS %ILE
99th
KEV
⚠ Exploited

What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)

The EG score (9.0): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.0 is the CISA KEV floor for confirmed exploitation, not an impact rating: its impact severity (EG Severity) is CVSS 7.8 HIGH.

EG Severity
7.8 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
EG Likelihood
>99.9% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-11-01). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
Confirmed exploitation
CISA KEV and EG-KEV Tier 1 (exploited in the wild)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
EG Priority
SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.

SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Attend at high (mission-essential systems).

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.

Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table

BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.

The score's inputs: In CISA KEV yes (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it

CISA required action“Apply updates per vendor instructions.”

Quoted verbatim from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. CISA directs it at US federal civilian executive branch agencies under Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 26-04, which replaced BOD 22-01 on 10 June 2026; it is not EchelonGraph's advice. CISA's notes: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-22204

Published

April 23, 2021

Last Modified

November 3, 2025

Advisory Details (10)

Auto-updated Oct 27, 2026
⚠️ Actively exploited (CISA KEV, CISA Vulnrichment). Patch available. Sources: github_commit.
Web pageMentions a patch (unverified)

[SECURITY] [DLA 2663-1] libimage-exiftool-perl security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/05/msg00018.html
Web page

2021/CVE-2021-22204.json · master · GitLab.org / GitLab CVE assignments · GitLab

https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2021/CVE-2021-22204.json
GitHub commit

commit cf0f4e7dcd02 (exiftool/exiftool)

Fix landed in exiftool/exiftool commit cf0f4e7dcd02 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/exiftool/exiftool/commit/cf0f4e7dcd024ca99615bfd1102a841a25dde031#diff-fa0d652d10dbcd246e6b1df16c1e992931d3bb717a7e36157596b76bdadb3800
Web page🟡 PoC Available

oss-security - Re: [CVE-2021-22204] ExifTool - Arbitrary code execution in the DjVu module when parsing a malicious image

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/10/5
Web pageMentions a patch (unverified)

oss-security - [CVE-2021-22204] ExifTool - Arbitrary code execution in the DjVu module when parsing a malicious image

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/09/1

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFix (by version range) / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulibimage-exiftool-perl (12.05-1ubuntu0.1) @ groovy2026-11-01ubuntu
ubuntulibimage-exiftool-perl (10.10-1ubuntu0.1~esm1) @ xenial2026-11-01ubuntu

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(6 across 6 ecosystems)
Debian:10(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
libimage-exiftool-perl11.16-1
  • every version up to 11.16-1+deb10u1: fixed in 11.16-1+deb10u1
—
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
libimage-exiftool-perl—
  • every version up to 12.16+dfsg-2: fixed in 12.16+dfsg-2
—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
libimage-exiftool-perl—
  • every version up to 12.16+dfsg-2: fixed in 12.16+dfsg-2
—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
libimage-exiftool-perl—
  • every version up to 12.16+dfsg-2: fixed in 12.16+dfsg-2
—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
libimage-exiftool-perl—
  • every version up to 12.16+dfsg-2: fixed in 12.16+dfsg-2
—
Debian:9(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
libimage-exiftool-perl10.40-1
  • every version up to 10.40-1+deb9u1: fixed in 10.40-1+deb9u1
—

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 20× in last 7d / 150× in last 30d)

Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 1,458 refreshes on record for this CVE.

A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. None are among the latest 100 rows. The 1,358 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.

  1. 2026-11-02 07:40 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-11-02 07:40 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub severity MODERATE · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  3. 2026-11-01 07:34 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-11-01 07:34 UTCVendor advisory
  5. 2026-11-01 07:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  6. 2026-10-31 07:28 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-10-31 07:28 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-10-31 07:27 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  9. 2026-10-30 07:21 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-10-30 07:21 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-10-30 07:21 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  12. 2026-10-29 07:15 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-10-29 07:15 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-10-29 07:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  15. 2026-10-28 07:09 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-10-28 07:09 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-10-28 07:09 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  18. 2026-10-27 07:02 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-10-27 07:02 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-10-27 07:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  21. 2026-10-26 06:54 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  22. 2026-10-25 18:34 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-10-25 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS >99.9% · 99th percentile
  24. 2026-10-25 06:49 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-10-25 06:49 UTCVendor advisory
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-10-25 06:48 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  2. 2026-10-24 06:42 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-10-24 06:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  4. 2026-10-23 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS >99.9% · 99th percentile
  5. 2026-10-23 06:32 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-10-23 06:32 UTCVendor advisory
  7. 2026-10-23 06:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  8. 2026-10-22 06:26 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-10-22 06:26 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  10. 2026-10-21 06:19 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-10-21 06:19 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-10-21 06:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  13. 2026-10-20 06:13 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-10-20 06:13 UTCVendor advisory
  15. 2026-10-20 06:13 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  16. 2026-10-19 06:07 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-10-19 06:07 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-10-19 06:07 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  19. 2026-10-18 05:59 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-10-18 05:59 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-10-18 05:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  22. 2026-10-17 05:52 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-10-17 05:52 UTCVendor advisory
  24. 2026-10-17 05:52 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  25. 2026-10-16 05:45 UTCEG score recompute
  26. 2026-10-16 05:45 UTCVendor advisory
  27. 2026-10-16 05:45 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  28. 2026-10-15 05:38 UTCEG score recompute
  29. 2026-10-15 05:38 UTCVendor advisory
  30. 2026-10-15 05:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  31. 2026-10-14 05:31 UTCEG score recompute
  32. 2026-10-14 05:31 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  33. 2026-10-13 05:23 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  34. 2026-10-12 19:24 UTCEG score recompute
  35. 2026-10-12 05:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  36. 2026-10-12 00:54 UTCVendor advisory
  37. 2026-10-12 00:53 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  38. 2026-10-11 20:35 UTCEG score recompute
  39. 2026-10-11 20:35 UTCVendor advisory
  40. 2026-10-11 20:35 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  41. 2026-10-11 16:17 UTCEG score recompute
  42. 2026-10-11 16:17 UTCVendor advisory
  43. 2026-10-11 16:17 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  44. 2026-10-11 11:58 UTCEG score recompute
  45. 2026-10-11 11:58 UTCVendor advisory
  46. 2026-10-11 11:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  47. 2026-10-11 07:37 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  48. 2026-10-11 03:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  49. 2026-10-10 23:00 UTCVendor advisory
  50. 2026-10-10 23:00 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  51. 2026-10-10 18:41 UTCVendor advisory
  52. 2026-10-10 18:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  53. 2026-10-10 14:24 UTCVendor advisory
  54. 2026-10-10 14:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  55. 2026-10-10 10:05 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  56. 2026-10-10 05:47 UTCVendor advisory
  57. 2026-10-10 05:47 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  58. 2026-10-10 01:30 UTCVendor advisory
  59. 2026-10-10 01:30 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  60. 2026-10-09 21:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  61. 2026-10-09 16:51 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  62. 2026-10-09 12:34 UTCVendor advisory
  63. 2026-10-09 12:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  64. 2026-10-09 08:15 UTCVendor advisory
  65. 2026-10-09 08:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  66. 2026-10-09 03:57 UTCVendor advisory
  67. 2026-10-09 03:57 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  68. 2026-10-08 23:39 UTCVendor advisory
  69. 2026-10-08 23:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  70. 2026-10-08 19:22 UTCVendor advisory
  71. 2026-10-08 19:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  72. 2026-10-08 15:04 UTCVendor advisory
  73. 2026-10-08 15:04 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8
  74. 2026-10-08 10:46 UTCVendor advisory
  75. 2026-10-08 10:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-9377-7hwr-p4w6 · GitHub CVSS 7.8

Publicly available exploits

(13 references, 10 shown)

Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (2 Metasploit modules, 1 Exploit-DB entry, 10 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.

  • Metasploitexploit/multi/http/gitlab_exif_rce✓ verified
    Published Nov 3, 2021

    GitLab Unauthenticated Remote ExifTool Command Injection

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/unix/fileformat/exiftool_djvu_ant_perl_injection✓ verified
    Published May 11, 2021

    ExifTool DjVu ANT Perl injection

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCAkash7350/CVE-2021-22204
    Published May 14, 2023
    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-50911
    Published May 11, 2022

    ExifTool 12.23 - Arbitrary Code Execution

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCUNICORDev/exploit-CVE-2021-22204
    Published Apr 16, 2022

    Exploit for CVE-2021-22204 (ExifTool) - Arbitrary Code Execution

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCmr-tuhin/CVE-2021-22204-exiftool
    Published Feb 21, 2022

    exiftool exploit

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCtrganda/CVE-2021-22204
    Published Dec 29, 2021
    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCph-arm/CVE-2021-22204-Gitlab
    Published Nov 4, 2021

    Modification of gitlab exploit anything under 13.10

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCAssassinUKG/CVE-2021-22204
    Published Aug 2, 2021
    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCPenTestical/CVE-2021-22204
    Published Aug 2, 2021
    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2021-22204?
CVE-2021-22204 is a critical-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on April 23, 2021. Improper neutralization of user data in the DjVu file format in ExifTool versions 7.44 and up allows arbitrary code execution when parsing the malicious image
When was the CVE record for CVE-2021-22204 published?
The CVE record for CVE-2021-22204 was published on April 23, 2021. That is the record's publication date; the vulnerability itself may have been made public earlier. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of November 3, 2025; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2021-22204 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2021-22204 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on November 17, 2021, affecting Perl Exiftool. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate attention. A fix is available. Apply it.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-22204?
CVE-2021-22204 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.8 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.0 (CRITICAL).
Which products are affected by CVE-2021-22204?
CVE-2021-22204 affects Perl Exiftool. The affected packages EchelonGraph has on record, with version ranges, are listed in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2021-22204?
A fix for CVE-2021-22204 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2021-22204

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2021-22204?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.