CVE-2021-43849 — cordova-plugin-fingerprin…
MEDIUMFix: NiklasMerz/cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio@27434a2CVE-2021-43849 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) Reachable Assertion vulnerability in cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio. A fix is available for cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio — see the affected versions and patch details below.
cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio DoS vulnerability
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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-2021-43849 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
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.
cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aionpmDescription
cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio is a plugin provides a single and simple interface for accessing fingerprint APIs on both Android 6+ and iOS. In versions prior to 5.0.1 The exported activity de.niklasmerz.cordova.biometric.BiometricActivity can cause the app to crash. This vulnerability occurred because the activity didn't handle the case where it is requested with invalid or empty data which results in a crash. Any third party app can constantly call this activity with no permission. A 3rd party app/attacker using event listener can continually stop the app from working and make the victim unable to open it. Version 5.0.1 of the cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio doesn't export the activity anymore and is no longer vulnerable. If you want to fix older versions change the attribute android:exported in plugin.xml to false. Please upgrade to version 5.0.1 as soon as possible.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio | all versions | 5.0.1npm install cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio@5.0.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update cordova-plugin-fingerprint-aio to 5.0.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-43849 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
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 O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2021-43849 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2021-43849. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-43849 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2021-43849 across npm dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.