What is CVE-2021-41153?

CVE-2021-41153 is a high-severity security vulnerability in evm (rust), affecting versions < 0.31.0. It is fixed in 0.31.0.

How severe is CVE-2021-41153?

CVE-2021-41153 has a CVSS score of 8.7 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.

Which versions of evm are affected by CVE-2021-41153?

evm (rust) versions < 0.31.0 is affected.

Is there a fix for CVE-2021-41153?

Yes. CVE-2021-41153 is fixed in 0.31.0. Upgrade to this version or later.

Is CVE-2021-41153 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2021-41153 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk.

What actually determines whether CVE-2021-41153 is exploitable, and how bad it is?

Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.

How do I fix CVE-2021-41153?

Upgrade evm to 0.31.0 or later.

CVE-2021-41153 in evm

Q: How severe is CVE-2021-41153?

CVE-2021-41153 has a CVSS score of 8.7 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.

Q: Which versions of evm are affected by CVE-2021-41153?

evm (rust) versions < 0.31.0 is affected.

Q: Is there a fix for CVE-2021-41153?

Yes. CVE-2021-41153 is fixed in 0.31.0. Upgrade to this version or later.

Q: Is CVE-2021-41153 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2021-41153 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk.

Q: What actually determines whether CVE-2021-41153 is exploitable, and how bad it is?

Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.

Q: How do I fix CVE-2021-41153?

Upgrade evm to 0.31.0 or later.

Summary

Specification non-compliance in JUMPI

Workarounds

If you are dependent on an older version of evm and cannot update due to API interface changes, please contact Wei by email ([email protected]), who will be happy to help you to publish patch releases for older evm versions.

References

Fix PR: https://github.com/rust-blockchain/evm/pull/67

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Open an issue in the evm repo.

Special thanks

Special thanks to @rakita for reporting this issue.

Impact

In evm crate < 0.31.0, JUMPI opcode's condition is checked after the destination validity check. However, according to Geth and OpenEthereum, the condition check should happen before the destination validity check.

CVE-2021-41153 has a CVSS score of 8.7 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (0.31.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Affected versions

evm (< 0.31.0)

Security releases

evm → 0.31.0 (rust)

Kodem intelligence

Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.

Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.

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Remediation advice

This is a high severity security advisory if you use evm crate for Ethereum mainnet. In this case, you should update your library dependency immediately to on or after 0.31.0.

This is a low severity security advisory if you use evm crate in Frontier or in a standalone blockchain, because there's no security exploit possible with this advisory. It is not recommended to update to on or after 0.31.0 until all the normal chain upgrade preparations have been done. If you use Frontier or other pallet-evm based Substrate blockchain, please ensure to update your spec_version before updating this. For other blockchains, please make sure to follow a hard-fork process before you update this.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2021-41153? CVE-2021-41153 is a high-severity security vulnerability in evm (rust), affecting versions < 0.31.0. It is fixed in 0.31.0.
How severe is CVE-2021-41153? CVE-2021-41153 has a CVSS score of 8.7 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
Which versions of evm are affected by CVE-2021-41153? evm (rust) versions < 0.31.0 is affected.
Is there a fix for CVE-2021-41153? Yes. CVE-2021-41153 is fixed in 0.31.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
Is CVE-2021-41153 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2021-41153 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
What actually determines whether CVE-2021-41153 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
How do I fix CVE-2021-41153? Upgrade evm to 0.31.0 or later.

Other vulnerabilities in evm

CVE-IDSeverityPackage summary

CVE-2021-29511Mediumevm: Memory over-allocation in evm crate CVE-2024-21629Mediumevm: Rust EVM erroneousle handles `record_external_operation` error return CVE-2022-39354Mediumevm: Incorrect is_static parameter for custom stateful precompiles in SputnikVM (evm)