Vulnerability in fail2ban (CVE-2021-32749)

Summary

Vulnerability in fail2ban (CVE-2021-32749). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. Exploitable via mail.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

fail2ban is a daemon to ban hosts that cause multiple authentication errors. In versions 0.9.7 and prior, 0.10.0 through 0.10.6, and 0.11.0 through 0.11.2, there is a vulnerability that leads to possible remote code execution in the mailing action mail-whois. Command mail from mailutils package used in mail actions like mail-whois can execute command if unescaped sequences (\n~) are available in "foreign" input (for instance in whois output). To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would need to insert malicious characters into the response sent by the whois server, either via a MITM attack or by taking over a whois server. The issue is patched in versions 0.10.7 and 0.11.3. As a workaround, one may avoid the usage of action mail-whois or patch the vulnerability manually.

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD GitHub Advisory OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2021-32749 has been found in fail2ban.
Attackers can target a specific entry point like mail over the network to misuse the product.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "fail2ban CVE-2021-32749" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2021-32749 (fail2ban)
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated / no user interaction
Attack surface: mail
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in fail2ban. Attackers reach the vulnerable code path via mail without authentication.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of fail2ban. Attack surface: mail.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.

🔧 How to fix

Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'fail2ban' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'fail2ban' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で fail2ban を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Alpine Linux ALPINE-CVE-2021-32749 fail2ban Fixed in: 0.11.2-r1