CVE-2021-21263 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-74 vulnerability in laravel/framework. A fix is available for laravel/framework — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Query Binding Exploitation
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
laravel/framework🐘illuminate/database🐘illuminate/database🐘illuminate/database🐘laravel/framework🐘laravel/frameworkReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Laravel is a web application framework. Versions of Laravel before 6.20.11, 7.30.2 and 8.22.1 contain a query binding exploitation. This same exploit applies to the illuminate/database package which is used by Laravel. If a request is crafted where a field that is normally a non-array value is an array, and that input is not validated or cast to its expected type before being passed to the query builder, an unexpected number of query bindings can be added to the query. In some situations, this will simply lead to no results being returned by the query builder; however, it is possible certain queries could be affected in a way that causes the query to return unexpected results.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | laravel/framework | ≥ 8.0.0&&< 8.22.1 | 8.22.1composer require laravel/framework:^8.22.1 |
| 🐘Packagist | illuminate/database | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.30.3 | 7.30.3composer require illuminate/database:^7.30.3 |
| 🐘Packagist | illuminate/database | ≥ 8.0.0&&< 8.22.1 | 8.22.1composer require illuminate/database:^8.22.1 |
| 🐘Packagist | illuminate/database | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.20.12 | 6.20.12composer require illuminate/database:^6.20.12 |
| 🐘Packagist | laravel/framework | ≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.20.11 | 6.20.11composer require laravel/framework:^6.20.11 |
| 🐘Packagist | laravel/framework | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.30.2 | 7.30.2composer require laravel/framework:^7.30.2 |
Affected Products
laravellaravelDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for laravel/framework, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update laravel/framework to 8.22.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-21263 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Until you can upgrade, make sure every query built from user input uses parameterised statements or a prepared-statement API rather than string concatenation, and reduce the database account's privileges so an injected query cannot read or alter data beyond what the feature needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-21263 in your dependencies?
Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.