CVE-2021-3838 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in dompdf/dompdf. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for dompdf/dompdf — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Deserialization of Untrusted Data in dompdf/dompdf
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2021-3838.
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
dompdf/dompdfReal-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
DomPDF before version 2.0.0 is vulnerable to PHAR (PHP Archive) deserialization due to a lack of checking on the protocol before passing it into the file_get_contents() function. An attacker who can upload files of any type to the server can pass in the phar:// protocol to unserialize the uploaded file and instantiate arbitrary PHP objects. This can lead to remote code execution, especially when DOMPdf is used with frameworks with documented POP chains like Laravel or vulnerable developer code.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | dompdf/dompdf | all versions | 2.0.0composer require dompdf/dompdf:^2.0.0 |
Affected Products
dompdfdompdf_projectResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for dompdf/dompdf, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update dompdf/dompdf to 2.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-3838 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-3838 in your dependencies?
Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.