Vulnerability Report

CVE-2021-21348

Title: XStream CPU Exhaustion via Crafted Input

CPU exhaustion

Proof Of Concept

No public PoC currently indexed for CVE-2021-21348.

CWE Category CWE-400
Published Date Mar 23, 2021
Modified Date May 23, 2025
Exploit Status Not Found
Score 5.3 CVSS v3.1
Exploit Probability (EPSS)
13.83%

Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2021-21348: XStream is a Java library to serialize objects to XML and back again. In XStream before version 1.4.16, there is a vulnerability which may allow a remote attacker to occupy a thread that consumes maximum CPU time and will never return. No user is affected, who followed the recommendation to setup XStream's security framework with a whitelist limited to the minimal required types. If you rely on XStream's default blacklist of the Security Framework, you will have to use at least version 1.4.16.

Impacted Vendors

O
oracle 10
X
xstream 1
M
mysql 1
A
apache 2
N
netapp 1

Reference Links

http://x-stream.github.io/changes.html#1.4.16 https://github.com/x-stream/xstream/security/advisories/GHSA-56p8-3fh9-4cvq https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8244fd0831db894d5e89911ded9c72196d395a90ae655414d23ed0dd%40%3Cusers.activemq.apache.org%3E https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9ac71b047767205aa22e3a08cb33f3e0586de6b2fac48b425c6e16b0%40%3Cdev.jmeter.apache.org%3E https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/04/msg00002.html https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/22KVR6B5IZP3BGQ3HPWIO2FWWCKT3DHP/ https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/PVPHZA7VW2RRSDCOIPP2W6O5ND254TU7/ https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/QGXIU3YDPG6OGTDHMBLAFN7BPBERXREB/ https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210430-0002/ https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5004 https://www.oracle.com//security-alerts/cpujul2021.html https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html https://x-stream.github.io/CVE-2021-21348.html https://x-stream.github.io/security.html#workaround http://x-stream.github.io/changes.html#1.4.16 https://github.com/x-stream/xstream/security/advisories/GHSA-56p8-3fh9-4cvq https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8244fd0831db894d5e89911ded9c72196d395a90ae655414d23ed0dd%40%3Cusers.activemq.apache.org%3E https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9ac71b047767205aa22e3a08cb33f3e0586de6b2fac48b425c6e16b0%40%3Cdev.jmeter.apache.org%3E https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/04/msg00002.html https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/22KVR6B5IZP3BGQ3HPWIO2FWWCKT3DHP/ https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/PVPHZA7VW2RRSDCOIPP2W6O5ND254TU7/ https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/QGXIU3YDPG6OGTDHMBLAFN7BPBERXREB/ https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210430-0002/ https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5004 https://www.oracle.com//security-alerts/cpujul2021.html https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html https://x-stream.github.io/CVE-2021-21348.html https://x-stream.github.io/security.html#workaround
CVSS v3.1
Source Entity [email protected]
Severity MEDIUM
5.3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
N/A
Interaction
REQUIRED
Confidentiality
N/A
Integrity
N/A
Availability
N/A
Scope
UNCHANGED
RAW VECTOR CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS v3.1
Source Entity [email protected]
Severity HIGH
7.5
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
N/A
Interaction
NONE
Confidentiality
N/A
Integrity
N/A
Availability
N/A
Scope
UNCHANGED
RAW VECTOR CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS v2.0
Source Entity [email protected]
Severity HIGH
7.8
Access Vector
N/A
Authentication
N/A
RAW VECTOR AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Associated Attack Patterns (CAPEC)

Total: Patterns

CVE-2021-21348 Exploits & PoCs (Proof Of Concept)

No public PoCs found in our database for this CVE.

MODIFIED

Vulnerability data or affected products updated.

PUBLISHED

Vulnerability first announced in NVD.

Attack Vector Matrix

Access Vector NETWORK
Complexity HIGH
Privileges N/A
Interaction REQUIRED
CVSS Vector String CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected Stack

No specific products linked.