XStream is a Java library to serialize objects to XML and back again. In XStream before version 1.4.16, there is a vulnerability where the processed stream at unmarshalling time contains type information to recreate the formerly written objects. XStream creates therefore new instances based on these type information. An attacker can manipulate the processed input stream and replace or inject objects, that result in the deletion of a file on the local host. 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.
CVE-2021-21343
This medium-severity CVE scores 5.3 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.6%, top 30% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 5.3
- EG Score
- 5.3(medium)
- EPSS
- 98.7%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
March 23, 2021
Last Modified
May 23, 2025
References (30)
- security-advisories@githubhttp://x-stream.github.io/changes.html#1.4.16
- security-advisories@githubhttps://github.com/x-stream/xstream/security/advisories/GHSA-74cv-f58x-f9wf
- security-advisories@githubhttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8244fd0831db894d5e89911ded9c72196d395a90ae655414d23ed0dd%40%3Cusers.activemq.apache.org%3E
- security-advisories@githubhttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9ac71b047767205aa22e3a08cb33f3e0586de6b2fac48b425c6e16b0%40%3Cdev.jmeter.apache.org%3E
- security-advisories@githubhttps://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/04/msg00002.html
- security-advisories@githubhttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/22KVR6B5IZP3BGQ3HPWIO2FWWCKT3DHP/
- security-advisories@githubhttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/PVPHZA7VW2RRSDCOIPP2W6O5ND254TU7/
- security-advisories@githubhttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/QGXIU3YDPG6OGTDHMBLAFN7BPBERXREB/
- security-advisories@githubhttps://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210430-0002/
- security-advisories@githubhttps://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5004
- security-advisories@githubhttps://www.oracle.com//security-alerts/cpujul2021.html
- security-advisories@githubhttps://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html
- security-advisories@githubhttps://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html
- security-advisories@githubhttps://x-stream.github.io/CVE-2021-21343.html
- security-advisories@githubhttps://x-stream.github.io/security.html#workaround
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2021-21343(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Patch Availability(5)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | libxstream-java (1.4.15-1ubuntu0.1) @ hirsute | 2026-05-26 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | libxstream-java (1.4.7-1ubuntu0.1+esm2) @ trusty | 2026-05-26 | ubuntu |
| redhat | xstream | 2021-12-14 | redhat |
| redhat | patch | 2021-12-02 | redhat |
| redhat | patch | 2021-11-23 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Maven(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream | 0.1 ... 1.4.9 (40 versions) | 1.4.16 | — |
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Additional Vendor Advisories
(7)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
- Red HatRHSA-2021:2139MODERATE2021-03-12
RHSA-2021:2139 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:2475MODERATE2021-03-12
RHSA-2021:2475 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:2476MODERATE2021-03-12
RHSA-2021:2476 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:4767MODERATE2021-03-12
RHSA-2021:4767 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:4918MODERATE2021-03-12
RHSA-2021:4918 — Moderate
- UbuntuUSN-4943-1MEDIUM
XStream vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-6978-1MEDIUM
XStream vulnerabilities
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 3× in last 7d / 34× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-02 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 06:48 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 45 moreShow fewer
- 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-15 17:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-14 23:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 11:13 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 13:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-29 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 19:33 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-26 19:33 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-24 16:49 UTCEPSS rescore
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2021-21343?
When was CVE-2021-21343 disclosed?
Is CVE-2021-21343 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-21343?
How do I remediate CVE-2021-21343?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2021-21343
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2021-21343?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.