Skip to content
Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2021-45085: XSS can occur in GNOME Web (aka Epiphany) before 40.4 and 41.x before 41.1 via an about: page, as demonstrated by ephy-about:overview when a

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 24/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1.6% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 76.1% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. A user must open a link or visit a page. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: epiphany (Alpine:v3.15) 41.3-r0; epiphany-browser (Debian:10) 3.32.1.2-3~deb10u2; epiphany-browser (Debian:11) 3.38.2-1+deb11u1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to epiphany (Alpine:v3.15) 41.3-r0; epiphany-browser (Debian:10) 3.32.1.2-3~deb10u2; epiphany-browser (Debian:11) 3.38.2-1+deb11u1 or later.

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

XSS can occur in GNOME Web (aka Epiphany) before 40.4 and 41.x before 41.1 via an about: page, as demonstrated by ephy-about:overview when a user visits an XSS payload page often enough to place that page on the Most Visited list.

MediumCVSS 6.1 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Dec 15, 2021
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
1.6% · 76th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

24

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
24 / 40 · 6.1 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 1.6%

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

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

Follow CVE-2021-45085

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits instantly.

Your free account also gets you

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

  • Stack alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every MondayDon't want an account? RSS feed for gnome records

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

Is your version affected? Check it

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.

We use this product, ask for help

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.

VendorProduct
gnomeepiphany
debiandebian linux

Limit the impact of XSS

This is a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability. A well-configured Content-Security-Policy doesn't fix it, but greatly reduces its impact. Check your site's CSP and other security headers for free.

Check security headers

Affected versions

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

  • debian debian linux10.0
  • debian debian linux11.0
  • gnome epiphanybefore 40.4
  • gnome epiphany41.0 and later · before 41.1

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.15epiphanyfrom 41.0 · before 41.3-r041.3-r0
Debian:10epiphany-browserbefore 3.32.1.2-3~deb10u23.32.1.2-3~deb10u2
Debian:11epiphany-browserbefore 3.38.2-1+deb11u13.38.2-1+deb11u1
Debian:12epiphany-browserbefore 41.2-141.2-1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedepiphanybefore 41.2-1.141.2-1.1

Same product

gnome: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2022-29536In GNOME Epiphany before 41.4 and 42.x before 42.2, an HTML document can trigger a client buffer overflow (in ephy_string_shorten in the UI
    31Monitor
  • CVE-2018-12016libephymain.so in GNOME Web (aka Epiphany) through 3.28.2.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via cer
    31Monitor
  • CVE-2023-26081In Epiphany (aka GNOME Web) through 43.0, untrusted web content can trick users into exfiltrating passwords, because autofill occurs in sand
    30Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2017-1000025Jul 17, 2017 · GNOME Web (Epiphany) 3.23 before 3.23.5, 3.22 before 3.22.6, 3.20 before 3.20.7, 3.18 before 3.18.11, and prior versions, is vulnerable to a
    30Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2018-11396May 23, 2018 · ephy-session.c in libephymain.so in GNOME Web (aka Epiphany) through 3.28.2.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (applicat
    30Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2021-45086Dec 15, 2021 · XSS can occur in GNOME Web (aka Epiphany) before 40.4 and 41.x before 41.1 because a server's suggested_filename is used as the pdf_name val
    24Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

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

Product / packageFixed versionSource
alpine:epiphany41.3-r0 · Alpine:v3.15Package registry (OSV)
debian:epiphany-browser41.2-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:epiphany41.2-1.1 · openSUSE:TumbleweedPackage registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

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.

No dated events beyond publication.

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.

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

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • A user must open a link or visit a page.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
low · data can be read
Integrity
low · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none

Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality impact
Low
Integrity impact
Low
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

User content is inserted into the page as HTML. The browser interprets the content as code rather than data.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-79 class

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

Vulnerable

ts
commentEl.innerHTML = comment.body;

Fixed

ts
commentEl.textContent = comment.body;

Attack context

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

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records