CVE-2021-27291
HIGHEPSS 90th pctlDescription
In pygments 1.1+, fixed in 2.7.4, the lexers used to parse programming languages rely heavily on regular expressions. Some of the regular expressions have exponential or cubic worst-case complexity and are vulnerable to ReDoS. By crafting malicious input, an attacker can cause a denial of service.
How to fix
This Ubuntu release reached end-of-life on 2023-05-31. Extended security maintenance is available until 2028-04-01.
This Ubuntu release reached end-of-life on 2025-05-31. Extended security maintenance is available until 2030-04-02.
This Ubuntu release reached end-of-life on 2023-05-31. Extended security maintenance is available until 2028-04-01.
This Ubuntu release reached end-of-life on 2025-05-31. Extended security maintenance is available until 2030-04-02.
This Ubuntu release reached end-of-life on 2023-05-31. Extended security maintenance is available until 2028-04-01.
This Ubuntu release reached end-of-life on 2025-05-31. Extended security maintenance is available until 2030-04-02.
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Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Elevated risk: more likely to be exploited than 90% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-1333 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2023-3364 | High | 7.5 | 44% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-8124 | High | 7.5 | 40% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-25126 | Medium | 5.3 | 35% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-2651 | Medium | 6.5 | 33% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2021-32837 | High | 7.5 | 29% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-2829 | High | 7.5 | 26% | - | Fix |
Common questions
How do I fix CVE-2021-27291?
Published advisories record a fix for 7 affected products. The "How to fix" section on this page lists the fixed version and source advisory for each one, so apply the entry matching what you actually run.
Is CVE-2021-27291 being actively exploited?
Not that we know of. CVE-2021-27291 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 3.9% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 90% of all scored CVEs.
How severe is CVE-2021-27291?
CVE-2021-27291 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5, rated high. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.
What does CVE-2021-27291 affect?
Published advisories record a fix for python-pygments (Amazon), python3-pygments (Amazon), python3-pygments-doc (Amazon), mediawiki (Debian), and 3 more. Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-06-17.