CVE-2021-33602Network attack vector

Scanning-engine crash via LZW ZIP unpacking

Published Oct 6, 2021 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Denial of service in the F-Secure Antivirus engine allows remote attackers to crash scanning with a crafted LZW-compressed ZIP archive. The archive unpacker mishandles LZW-compressed data during scanning and terminates the scanning engine, but the faulty operation is not publicly identified. Exploitation requires the engine to scan the crafted archive and interrupts antivirus inspection; no data access or code execution is established.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.59%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in the F-Secure Antivirus engine allows remote attackers to crash scanning with a crafted LZW-compressed ZIP archive. The archive unpacker mishandles LZW-compressed data during scanning and terminates the scanning engine, but the faulty operation is not publicly identified. Exploitation requires the engine to scan the crafted archive and interrupts antivirus inspection; no data access or code execution is established.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-33602
Published
Oct 6, 2021
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 6, 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?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

5.3NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
5.0NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
5.5F-SecureCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

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)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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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