CVE-2021-41497 — bounter
HIGHCVE-2021-41497 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in bounter. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
bounter Null pointer reference
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2021-41497 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
bounterReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Null pointer reference in CMS_Conservative_increment_obj in RaRe-Technologies bounter version 1.01 and 1.10, allows attackers to conduct Denial of Service attacks by inputting a huge width of hash bucket.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | bounter | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
bounterrare-technologiesResearch 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 bounter, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of bounter has shipped for CVE-2021-41497 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-41497 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.