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TI-2021-20978 Aliases CVE-2021-45985GHSA-pxvf-cp3x-784h

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Priority HIGH 72CWE-787Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
No fix listed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-787 and the CVSS impact.

Summary

In Lua 5.4.3, an erroneous finalizer called during a tail call leads to a heap-based buffer over-read.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.01418 72nd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
Poc
Automatable
Yes
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
——all versions—No fix listedCNA
  • — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:lua:lua:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*5.4.0 to before 5.4.4VulnerableLua
  • cpe:2.3:a:lua:lua:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.4.0 to before 5.4.4 Vulnerable ·Lua

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 4 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-45985
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-pxvf-cp3x-784h

References

Exploit 1

Patch 1

Advisory 1

  • TI-2019-04752 Lua 5.3.5 has a use-after-free in lua_upvaluejoin in lapi.c. CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2020-12507 Lua 5.4.0 has a getobjname heap-based buffer over-read because youngcollection in lgc.c… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2022-11427 singlevar in lparser.c in Lua from (including) 5.4.0 up to (excluding) 5.4.4 lacks a… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
  • TI-2020-12506 Lua through 5.4.0 mishandles the interaction between stack resizes and garbage… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-14562 An issue in the component luaG_runerror of Lua v5.4.4 and below leads to a heap-buffer… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2014-04459 Buffer overflow in the vararg functions in ldo.c in Lua 5.1 through 5.2.x before 5.2.3… CVSS 2.0MEDIUM 5.0
See all 14 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences