CVE-2021-32699

Host denial of service via unlimited container processes

Published Jun 22, 2021 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Resource exhaustion in Pterodactyl Wings before 1.4.4 allows local users to stop the host server by spawning excessive container processes. Container creation omitted Docker's PidsLimit setting, so an allocated game container could create processes until the host PID pool was depleted. Exploitation requires control of a Wings-managed game container; PID exhaustion can halt the node and interrupt every tenant sharing it.

CVSS severity6.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.27%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Resource exhaustion in Pterodactyl Wings before 1.4.4 allows local users to stop the host server by spawning excessive container processes. Container creation omitted Docker's PidsLimit setting, so an allocated game container could create processes until the host PID pool was depleted. Exploitation requires control of a Wings-managed game container; PID exhaustion can halt the node and interrupt every tenant sharing it.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-32699
Published
Jun 22, 2021
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Pterodactyl
Product
Wings
Classifications
CWE-405, CWE-400, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 22, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 3, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=< 1.4.4

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Pterodactyl · Wingsversion=< 1.4.4

Published CVSS scores

6.5NISTCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
6.5GitHubCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-405Asymmetric Resource Consumption (Amplification)
CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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