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Vulnerability record · CVE-2021-42521 · published 25 August 2022

CVE-2021-42521: Vtk uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability

Vtk · Vtk

There is a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in VTK before 9.2.5, and it lies in IO/Infovis/vtkXMLTreeReader.cxx. The vendor didn't check the return value of libxml2 API 'xmlDocGetRootElement', and try to dereference it. It is unsafe as the return value can be NULL and that NULL pointer dereference may crash the application.

7.5 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 1.3% · top 31.0% CWE-400 · Uncontrolled resource consumptionCWE-476 · NULL pointer dereference
7.5CVSS 3.1 base score
1.3%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
6References, 2 tagged exploit
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

There is a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in VTK before 9.2.5, and it lies in IO/Infovis/vtkXMLTreeReader.cxx. The vendor didn't check the return value of libxml2 API 'xmlDocGetRootElement', and try to dereference it. It is unsafe as the return value can be NULL and that NULL pointer dereference may crash the application.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://discourse.vtk.org/t/vtk-9-2-5-is-out/10549
https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk/issues/17818 ExploitIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/PCTMSAAVP4BW2HTZLDWMGKZ
https://discourse.vtk.org/t/vtk-9-2-5-is-out/10549
https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk/vtk/issues/17818 ExploitIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/PCTMSAAVP4BW2HTZLDWMGKZ

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Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2021-42521), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-28). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.