Reference page — cumulative record through Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.

CVE-2021-22946

CVE-2021-22946HIGH

n/a https://github.com/curl/curl — A user can tell curl >= 7.20.0 and <= 7.78.0 to require a successful upgrade to TLS when speaking to an IMAP, POP3 or FTP server (`--ssl-…

  AV  AC  PR  UI  S  C  I  A   CVSS    EPSS   %ile   KEV
   N   L   N   N  U  H  N  N    7.5   .0454   91.5     —

AFFECTED
  Product                       Versions                               Fixed
  https://github.com/curl/curl  curl 7.20.0 to and including 7.78.0 –  —

TIMELINE
  Jan 6   Reserved by hackerone
  Sep 29  Published (CNA: hackerone)
  Oct 14  EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2021-22946 (https://github.com/curl/curl). Public exploit reference added.

CWE-319, CWE-325 · CNA: hackerone · CVSS v3.1 · 19 references · NVD status: Modified

Description

A user can tell curl >= 7.20.0 and <= 7.78.0 to require a successful upgrade to TLS when speaking to an IMAP, POP3 or FTP server (`--ssl-reqd` on the command line or`CURLOPT_USE_SSL` set to `CURLUSESSL_CONTROL` or `CURLUSESSL_ALL` withlibcurl). This requirement could be bypassed if the server would return a properly crafted but perfectly legitimate response.This flaw would then make curl silently continue its operations **withoutTLS** contrary to the instructions and expectations, exposing possibly sensitive data in clear text over the network.

Lifecycle

Complete event history — 3 events, chronological
Date	Event	Detail
January 6, 2021	Reserved	Reserved by hackerone
September 29, 2021	Published	Published (CNA: hackerone)
October 14, 2026	EXPLOIT PUBLISHED	EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2021-22946 (https://github.com/curl/curl). Public exploit reference added.

Affected

Affected products and packages — 1 row
Vendor	Product / Package	Ecosystem	Version introduced	Fixed
n/a	https://github.com/curl/curl	—	curl 7.20.0 to and including 7.78.0	—

Weaknesses

CWE-319 · CWE-325

References (19)

http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Mar/29 [Mailing List, Third Party Advisory]
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-146325.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-389290.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-389290.pdf [Patch, Third Party Advisory]
https://hackerone.com/reports/1334111 [Exploit, Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory]
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/09/msg00022.html [Mailing List, Third Party Advisory]
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/08/msg00017.html [Mailing List, Third Party Advisory]
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/APOAK4X73EJTAPTSVT7IRVDMUWVXNWGD/ [Mailing List, Third Party Advisory]
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/RWLEC6YVEM2HWUBX67SDGPSY4CQB72OE/ [Mailing List, Third Party Advisory]
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202212-01 [Third Party Advisory]
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20211029-0003/ [Third Party Advisory]
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20220121-0008/ [Third Party Advisory]
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213183 [Release Notes, Third Party Advisory]
https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5197 [Third Party Advisory]
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html [Patch, Third Party Advisory]
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html [Third Party Advisory]
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2022.html [Patch, Third Party Advisory]
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html [Patch, Third Party Advisory]

Authoritative record: CVE-2021-22946 at cve.org

Weaknesses: CWE-319 · CWE-325

About this page

This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2021-22946 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.