CVE-2021-41138

What it is

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`.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited over the network without logging in. Limited direct impact.

Exploit odds

1.4% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2021-10-13 16:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-06-17 04:07 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 1.4% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 5.3 MEDIUM (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2021-10-13 16:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-06-17 04:07 UTC

Exploit probability

1.4% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-20 · Improper input validation

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Parity Frontier < 2021-10-13

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 5.3

Attack vector

Network

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

None

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

Low

Availability

None

Is it in your code?

Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.

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