CVE-2021-33112 - Unused, Rejected, and What That Means

When diving into the world of software security, you’ll often come across CVEs. CVE stands for "Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures" and it’s the system that helps researchers, companies, and users track security issues. Not every CVE ends up being a dangerous bug—sometimes, they get reserved, but then not used. Let’s talk about CVE-2021-33112, why it was rejected, what “unused” means for developers and IT admins, and how to read such records.

What Is CVE-2021-33112?

CVE-2021-33112 was a reserved identifier, but if you check the official CVE record, you’ll see the following message:

> REJECT - This candidate was withdrawn by its requester. It is invalid and should not be used.

That means there is *no* vulnerability tied to this CVE number.

Why Do CVEs Get Reserved and Then Rejected?

Sometimes companies or researchers will reserve a CVE ID when they think they’ve found a vulnerability or while they’re still investigating an issue. Later on, they might determine that:

The problem was not exploitable.

In those cases, the reserved CVE might be marked as “REJECTED” or “UNUSED” so no one gets confused.

Here’s a code-style snippet of what you might see when you look up a rejected/unused CVE

CVE: CVE-2021-33112
Status: REJECTED
Description: This candidate was withdrawn by its requester. It is invalid and should not be used.
References: NONE

This is very different from a typical CVE entry, which often contains affected software, description, and sometimes exploit details.

So, Is There an Exploit? Any Technical Details?

Nope! No exploit details, proof-of-concept code, or vulnerability description exists for CVE-2021-33112. Anyone claiming otherwise is either confused by old/unofficial references, or using the number in error.

For real CVEs, you’ll see example proof-of-concept code, like this for, say, a buffer overflow

#include <string.h>
int main() {
    char buffer[10];
    strcpy(buffer, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"); // This could overflow!
    return ;
}

But for CVE-2021-33112, there simply isn’t any vulnerability associated.

Ignore it: There’s no security risk associated with this CVE.

- Check authoritative sources: Always use the official MITRE CVE database or the NVD to see the current status of a CVE.
- Don’t panic: Security scanners might sometimes show “reserved” or “rejected” CVEs if their databases aren’t current. This CVE is nothing to worry about.

Original References

- MITRE CVE List for CVE-2021-33112
- NVD Entry for CVE-2021-33112

Bottom Line

CVE-2021-33112 is a non-issue. It was reserved, later rejected, and is now "unused." There’s nothing to patch, no exploit to test, and nothing to worry about. When you see a CVE marked as REJECTED or UNUSED, just move along—there’s nothing to see here!

> Tip: Next time you come across a CVE, always check its status and read the description. If it’s rejected/unused, you can rest easy—it’s just a number, not a nightmare!

Timeline

Published on: 02/23/2024 21:15:08 UTC
Last modified on: 09/04/2025 00:40:32 UTC