XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack

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Summary

CVECVE-2021-39139
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2021-08-23 18:15:10 UTC
Updated2026-10-07 21:17:03 UTC
DescriptionXStream is a simple library to serialize objects to XML and back again. In affected versions this vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to load and execute arbitrary code from a remote host only by manipulating the processed input stream. A user is only affected if using the version out of the box with JDK 1.7u21 or below. However, this scenario can be adjusted easily to an external Xalan that works regardless of the version of the Java runtime. No user is affected, who followed the recommendation to setup XStream's security framework with a whitelist limited to the minimal required types. XStream 1.4.18 uses no longer a blacklist by default, since it cannot be secured for general purpose.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 8.8 HIGH from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS: 0.045400000 probability, percentile 0.913050000 (date 2026-10-07)

Problem Types: CWE-434 | CWE-502 | CWE-502 CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data | CWE-434 CWE-434: Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Primary8.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1[email protected]Secondary8.5HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED8.5HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
2.0[email protected]Primary6.5AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2.0 Breakdown

Access Vector
Network
Access Complexity
Low
Authentication
Single
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Operating System Debian Debian Linux 10.0 All All All
Operating System Debian Debian Linux 11.0 All All All
Operating System Debian Debian Linux 9.0 All All All
Operating System Fedoraproject Fedora 33 All All All
Operating System Fedoraproject Fedora 34 All All All
Operating System Fedoraproject Fedora 35 All All All
Application Netapp Snapmanager - All All All
Application Netapp Snapmanager - All All All
Application Oracle Business Activity Monitoring 12.2.1.4.0 All All All
Application Oracle Commerce Guided Search 11.3.2 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Billing And Revenue Management Elastic Charging Engine 11.3 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Billing And Revenue Management Elastic Charging Engine 12.0 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Automated Test Suite 1.9.0 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Binding Support Function 1.10.0 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy 1.14.0 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Unified Inventory Management 7.3.4 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Unified Inventory Management 7.3.5 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Unified Inventory Management 7.4.0 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Unified Inventory Management 7.4.1 All All All
Application Oracle Communications Unified Inventory Management 7.4.2 All All All
Application Oracle Retail Xstore Point Of Service 16.0.6 All All All
Application Oracle Retail Xstore Point Of Service 17.0.4 All All All
Application Oracle Retail Xstore Point Of Service 18.0.3 All All All
Application Oracle Retail Xstore Point Of Service 19.0.2 All All All
Application Oracle Retail Xstore Point Of Service 20.0.1 All All All
Application Oracle Utilities Framework 4.2.0.2.0 All All All
Application Oracle Utilities Framework 4.2.0.3.0 All All All
Application Oracle Utilities Framework 4.3.0.1.0 All All All
Application Oracle Utilities Framework 4.3.0.6.0 All All All
Application Oracle Utilities Framework 4.4.0.0.0 All All All
Application Oracle Utilities Framework 4.4.0.2.0 All All All
Application Oracle Utilities Framework 4.4.0.3.0 All All All
Application Oracle Utilities Testing Accelerator 6.0.0.1.1 All All All
Application Oracle Webcenter Portal 12.2.1.3.0 All All All
Application Oracle Webcenter Portal 12.2.1.4.0 All All All
Application Xstream Xstream All All All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA X-stream Xstream affected < 1.4.18 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory - April 2022 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.oracle.com Patch, Third Party Advisory
[SECURITY] [DLA 2769-1] libxstream-java security update af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 lists.debian.org Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
[SECURITY] Fedora 35 Update: xstream-1.4.18-2.fc35 - package-announce - Fedora Mailing-Lists af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 lists.fedoraproject.org Mailing List
Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory - January 2022 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.oracle.com Patch, Third Party Advisory
Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory - July 2022 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.oracle.com Patch, Third Party Advisory
August 2021 XStream Vulnerabilities in NetApp Products | NetApp Product Security af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 security.netapp.com Third Party Advisory
XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack · Advisory · x-stream/xstream · GitHub af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 github.com Third Party Advisory
[SECURITY] Fedora 33 Update: xstream-1.4.18-2.fc33 - package-announce - Fedora Mailing-Lists af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 lists.fedoraproject.org Mailing List
[SECURITY] Fedora 34 Update: xstream-1.4.18-2.fc34 - package-announce - Fedora Mailing-Lists af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 lists.fedoraproject.org Mailing List
Debian -- Security Information -- DSA-5004-1 libxstream-java af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.debian.org Third Party Advisory
XStream - CVE-2021-39139 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 x-stream.github.io Vendor Advisory
[SECURITY] Fedora 35 Update: xstream-1.4.18-2.fc35 - package-announce - Fedora Mailing-Lists MITRE lists.fedoraproject.org
[SECURITY] Fedora 34 Update: xstream-1.4.18-2.fc34 - package-announce - Fedora Mailing-Lists MITRE lists.fedoraproject.org
[SECURITY] Fedora 33 Update: xstream-1.4.18-2.fc33 - package-announce - Fedora Mailing-Lists MITRE lists.fedoraproject.org
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

Legacy QID Mappings

  • 159437 Oracle Enterprise Linux Security Update for xstream (ELSA-2021-3956)
  • 178813 Debian Security Update for libxstream-java (DLA 2769-1)
  • 178889 Debian Security Update for libxstream-java (DSA 5004-1)
  • 178890 Debian Security Update for libxstream-java (DSA 5004-1)
  • 183210 Debian Security Update for libxstream-java (CVE-2021-39139)
  • 199237 Ubuntu Security Notification for XStream Vulnerabilities (USN-5946-1)
  • 239729 Red Hat Update for xstream (RHSA-2021:3956)
  • 281980 Fedora Security Update for xstream (FEDORA-2021-d894ca87dc)
  • 281981 Fedora Security Update for xstream (FEDORA-2021-fbad11014a)
  • 353077 Amazon Linux Security Advisory for xstream : ALAS2-2021-1729
  • 375827 XStream Arbitrary Code Execution And Multiple vulnerabilities
  • 376998 Alibaba Cloud Linux Security Update for xstream (ALINUX2-SA-2021:0065)
  • 751258 OpenSUSE Security Update for xstream (openSUSE-SU-2021:3476-1)
  • 751298 OpenSUSE Security Update for xstream (openSUSE-SU-2021:1401-1)
  • 980138 Java (maven) Security Update for com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream (GHSA-64xx-cq4q-mf44)

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