How severe is CVE-2021-21315?

CVE-2021-21315 has a CVSS score of 7.8/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-21315?

CVE-2021-21315 affects the following packages: systeminformation (npm). Ecosystems affected: npm.

How do I fix CVE-2021-21315?

Update systeminformation to 5.3.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-21315 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-21315 in my npm dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for systeminformation. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2021-21315 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2021-21315?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2021-21315 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2021-21315 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 7 known exploit references for CVE-2021-21315, including 5 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2021-21315?

CVE-2021-21315 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 90.7%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2021-21315 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2021-21315 (System Information Library for Node.JS Command Injection) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2022-01-18. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-02-01. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2021-21315?

CVE-2021-21315 is classified as OS Command Injection (CWE-78). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2021-21315?

A Nuclei detection template exists for CVE-2021-21315, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was CVE-2021-21315 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-21315 was published on February 16, 2021 and was last updated on August 7, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦

📦 npm

CISA KEV · ACTIVELY EXPLOITED

HIGH severity

CVE-2021-21315

HIGHFix: sebhildebrandt/systeminformation@07daa05

CVE-2021-21315 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability in systeminformation. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-01-18) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2021-21315 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.

Command Injection Vulnerability

Also known asGHSA-2m8v-572m-ff2v

Published

Feb 16, 2021

Updated

Aug 7, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

7 known

Exploitation data as of Aug 26, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-01-18. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-02-01.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2021-21315.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

90.7%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs100th percentile — riskier than 100% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2021-21315 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE sits: patch-first territory.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 368,770 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.

1Kother npm packages depend on this — each one inherits the vulnerability until it's patched upstream

systeminformationnpm

13.7Mdownloads / week

Description

The System Information Library for Node.JS (npm package "systeminformation") is an open source collection of functions to retrieve detailed hardware, system and OS information. In systeminformation before version 5.3.1 there is a command injection vulnerability. Problem was fixed in version 5.3.1. As a workaround instead of upgrading, be sure to check or sanitize service parameters that are passed to si.inetLatency(), si.inetChecksite(), si.services(), si.processLoad() ... do only allow strings, reject any arrays. String sanitation works as expected.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦npm	`systeminformation`	all versions	5.3.1

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.