NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitHub_M

CVE-2021-29449: Multiple Privilege Escalation Vulnerabilities Pihole

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Plan (action score 40/100)

A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
Because a ready-made attack tool exists, priority is at least “Plan”.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1.8% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 79% of all records.
Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Add it to your regular patch cycle. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

Pi-hole is a Linux network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application. Multiple privilege escalation vulnerabilities were discovered in version 5.2.4 of Pi-hole core. See the referenced GitHub security advisory for details.

HighCVSS 7.8 · v3.1—Weaponized No fix recorded

Local privilege escalation

Published: Apr 14, 2021
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 1.8% · 79th percentile
CWE: CWE-269

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS: 31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 1 / 30 · 1.8%
Ready-made attack tool: 8 / 40 · floor: at least 40

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 7.8
CNA · GitHub_M: 6.3; 1.5 point gap

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

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
Weaponized exploit exists
No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
pi-hole	pi-hole	cpe:2.3:a:pi-hole:pi-hole

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

pi-hole pi-holeup to 5.2.4 inclusive

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

pi-hole pi-hole
- <= 5.2.4affected

Same product

pi-hole: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2020-8816Pi-hole Web v4.3.2 (aka AdminLTE) allows Remote Code Execution by privileged dashboard users via a crafted DHCP static lease.KEV
82Now
CVE-2020-11108The Gravity updater in Pi-hole through 4.4 allows an authenticated adversary to upload arbitrary files.
58Plan
CVE-2021-32706(Authenticated) Remote Code Execution Possible in Web Interface 5.5
53Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2020-35591Feb 18, 2021 · Pi-hole 5.0, 5.1, and 5.1.1 allows Session Fixation.
21Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2020-35592Feb 18, 2021 · Pi-hole 5.0, 5.1, and 5.1.1 allows XSS via the Options header to the admin/ URI.
21Monitor
Later →CVE-2021-32793Aug 4, 2021 · Stored XSS Vulnerability in the Pi-hole Webinterface
19Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

Metasploit module ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
Source	Kind	Date
Metasploit module	exploit/linux/local/pihole_remove_commands_lpePi-Hole Remove Commands Linux Priv Escexploit	2021-04-20

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

PublishedApr 14, 2021
MetasploitApr 20, 2021+5 d
TodayNov 3, 2026+2028 d

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
A low-privileged account is enough.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Local
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

To simplify setup, a service account is granted broad, cluster-wide permissions. The principle of least privilege is skipped during installation.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-269 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

yaml

1kind: ClusterRole
2rules:
3  - apiGroups: ["*"]
4    resources: ["*"]
5    verbs: ["*"]

Fixed

yaml

1kind: Role
2metadata:
3  namespace: lodos-system
4rules:
5  - apiGroups: ["apps"]
6    resources: ["deployments"]
7    verbs: ["get", "list", "update"]

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

Abuse Elevation Control MechanismT1548

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

All records