Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2021-21254


CKEditor 5 is an open source rich text editor framework with a modular architecture. The CKEditor 5 Markdown plugin (@ckeditor/ckeditor5-markdown-gfm) before version 25.0.0 has a regex denial of service (ReDoS) vulnerability. The vulnerability allowed to abuse link recognition regular expression, which could cause a significant performance drop resulting in browser tab freeze. It affects all users using CKEditor 5 Markdown plugin at version <= 24.0.0. The problem has been recognized and patched. The fix will be available in version 25.0.0.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.5, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from ckeditor organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Reported in 2021, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.


Published

2021-01-29T22:15:14.797

Last Modified

2024-11-21T05:47:52.287

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 6.5 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P

  • Access Vector: NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: LOW
  • Authentication: SINGLE
  • Confidentiality Impact: NONE
  • Integrity Impact: NONE
  • Availability Impact: PARTIAL
Exploitability Score

8.0

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses
  • Type: Secondary
    CWE-400

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Application ckeditor ckeditor5 < 25.0.0 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For ckeditor's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.