XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2021-39141 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | GitHub_M |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2021-08-23 18:15:12 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-10-07 21:17:03 UTC |
| Description | XStream 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. 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 8.5 HIGH from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS: 0.161180000 probability, percentile 0.968480000 (date 2026-10-07)
Problem Types: CWE-434 | CWE-502 | CWE-434 CWE-434: Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type | CWE-502 CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Primary | 8.5 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Secondary | 8.5 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | DECLARED | 8.5 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 2.0 | [email protected] | Primary | 6 | AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
HighPrivileges Required
LowUser Interaction
NoneScope
ChangedConfidentiality
HighIntegrity
HighAvailability
HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v2.0 Breakdown
Access Vector
NetworkAccess Complexity
MediumAuthentication
SingleConfidentiality
PartialIntegrity
PartialAvailability
PartialAV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P
NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version | Update | Edition | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory - April 2022 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | www.oracle.com | Patch, 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] [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 - CVE-2021-39141 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | x-stream.github.io | Exploit, Vendor 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 |
| [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 |
No vendor comments have been submitted for this CVE.
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)
- 182951 Debian Security Update for libxstream-java (CVE-2021-39141)
- 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)
- 980139 Java (maven) Security Update for com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream (GHSA-g5w6-mrj7-75h2)