HOMEVULNERABILITIESCVE-2021-41138
MEDIUM

CVE-2021-41138

CWE-20Published: October 13, 2021· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

5.3
CVSS v3.1

Official Description

Frontier is Substrate's Ethereum compatibility layer. In the newly introduced signed Frontier-specific extrinsic for `pallet-ethereum`, a large part of transaction validation logic was only called in transaction pool validation, but not in block execution. Malicious validators can take advantage of this to put invalid transactions into a block. The attack is limited in that the signature is always validated, and the majority of the validation is done again in the subsequent `pallet-evm` execution logic. However, do note that a chain ID replay attack was possible. In addition, spamming attacks are of main concerns, while they are limited by Substrate block size limits and other factors. The issue is patched in commit `146bb48849e5393004be5c88beefe76fdf009aba`.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2021-41138 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.

The vulnerability requires no privileges and no user interaction, making it a prime target for automated exploitation campaigns and worm-like propagation.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability
Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges Req.None
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
Impact
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Affected Vendors & Products

parity1 product(s)
frontier
Source: NVD CPE · 1 total CPE entries

Exploit & PoC Resources

NO KNOWN EXPLOITNo public exploit confirmed at this time
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Official Patches & Advisories

All References (6)

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2021-41138
CVSS Score5.3 / 10
SeverityMEDIUM
WeaknessCWE-20
CISA KEVNo
Affected1 vendor(s)
PublishedOct 13, 2021

Related CVEs (CWE-20)

Recommended Actions

  • Apply vendor patches immediately
  • Monitor CVE-2021-41138 in threat intel feeds
  • Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts
Data sourced from NVD (NIST), CISA KEV, and EPSS (FIRST). Analysis generated by CTIWATCH.COM. CVE data is provided under the NVD usage policy.