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High

XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack

  • Disclosed: 25.08.2021
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 12:22

Impact

The 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.

Patches

XStream 1.4.18 uses no longer a blacklist by default, since it cannot be secured for general purpose.

Workarounds

See workarounds for the different versions covering all CVEs.

References

See full information about the nature of the vulnerability and the steps to reproduce it in XStream's documentation for CVE-2021-39141.

Credits

Ceclin and YXXX from the Tencent Security Response Center found and reported the issue to XStream and provided the required information to reproduce it.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Java / Kotlin (Maven) com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream < 1.4.18 1.4.18

References

CVSS score 8.5/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-502
Platform
Java / Kotlin (Maven)
Package
com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream
Disclosed
25.08.2021
Updated
11.10.2026 12:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-g5w6-mrj7-75h2 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (37) in the archive
Total entries
37
First → latest
05.2019 11.2024
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
1

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 2
  • High 22
  • Medium 13

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. XStream is vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack due to stack overflow from a manipulated binary input stream
    High · 7.5 CVE-2024-47072 < 1.4.21 1.4.21
  2. XStream can cause a Denial of Service by injecting deeply nested objects raising a stack overflow
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-40151 < 1.4.20 1.4.20
  3. XStream can cause Denial of Service via stack overflow
    High · 8.2 CVE-2022-41966 < 1.4.20 1.4.20
  4. Denial of Service by injecting highly recursive collections or maps in XStream
    High · 7.5 CVE-2021-43859 < 1.4.19 1.4.19
  5. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39139 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  6. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack this entry
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39141 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  7. XStream is vulnerable to a Remote Command Execution attack
    High · 8.5 Exploited in attacks CVE-2021-39144 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  8. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39145 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  9. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39146 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  10. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39147 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  11. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39148 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  12. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39149 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  13. A Server-Side Forgery Request can be activated unmarshalling with XStream to access data streams from an arbitrary URL referencing a resource in an intranet or the local host
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39150 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  14. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39151 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  15. A Server-Side Forgery Request can be activated unmarshalling with XStream to access data streams from an arbitrary URL referencing a resource in an intranet or the local host
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39152 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  16. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39153 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  17. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39154 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  18. XStream is vulnerable to a Remote Command Execution attack
    High · 7.5 CVE-2021-29505 < 1.4.17 1.4.17
  19. XStream can cause a Denial of Service.
    High · 7.5 CVE-2021-21341 < 1.4.16 1.4.16
  20. XStream can be used for Remote Code Execution
    High · 8.0 CVE-2020-26217 < 1.4.14-java7 1.4.14-java7
Show more (4) Showing 20 of 24

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