The REXML gem before 3.2.5 in Ruby before 2.6.7, 2.7.x before 2.7.3, and 3.x before 3.0.1 does not properly address XML round-trip issues. An incorrect document can be produced after parsing and serializing.
CVE-2021-28965
This high-severity CVE scores 7.5 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.6%, top 31% 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).
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.5
- EG Score
- 7.5(medium)
- EPSS
- 91.3%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
April 21, 2021
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (6)
- cve@mitrehttps://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/WTVFTLFVCSUE5CXHINJEUCKSHU4SWDMT/
- cve@mitrehttps://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210528-0003/
- cve@mitrehttps://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2021/04/05/xml-round-trip-vulnerability-in-rexml-cve-2021-28965/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/WTVFTLFVCSUE5CXHINJEUCKSHU4SWDMT/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210528-0003/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/news/2021/04/05/xml-round-trip-vulnerability-in-rexml-cve-2021-28965/
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2021-28965(9)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- RHSA-2026:8838Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- RHSA-2026:7307Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- RHSA-2026:7305Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update
- RHSA-2022:0582Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: ruby:2.6 security update
- RHSA-2022:0581Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: ruby:2.6 security update
- RHSA-2021:2587Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: ruby:2.5 security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- RHSA-2021:2588Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: ruby:2.6 security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- RHSA-2021:2230Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: rh-ruby26-ruby security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- +1 more
Patch Availability(13)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | ruby2.7-doc (2.7.2-4ubuntu1.1) @ hirsute | 2026-05-26 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | ruby2.3-tcltk (2.3.1-2~ubuntu16.04.16) @ xenial | 2026-05-26 | ubuntu |
| redhat | ruby4-0-main-4.0.0-33.3.hum1 | 2026-04-17 | redhat |
| redhat | ruby3-4-main-3.4.8-31.1.hum1 | 2026-04-09 | redhat |
| redhat | ruby3-3-main-3.3.10-23.1.hum1 | 2026-04-09 | redhat |
| redhat | ruby:2.6-8010020220201152941.c27ad7f8 | 2022-02-21 | redhat |
| redhat | ruby:2.6-8020020220201131207.4cda2c84 | 2022-02-21 | redhat |
| redhat | ruby:2.6-8040020210430142949.522a0ee4 | 2021-06-29 | redhat |
| redhat | ruby:2.7-8040020210421133318.522a0ee4 | 2021-06-29 | redhat |
| redhat | ruby:2.5-8040020200923213910.522a0ee4 | 2021-06-29 | redhat |
| redhat | rh-ruby27-ruby-0:2.7.3-129.el7 | 2021-06-03 | redhat |
| redhat | rh-ruby26-ruby-0:2.6.7-119.el7 | 2021-06-03 | redhat |
| redhat | rh-ruby25-ruby-0:2.5.9-9.el7 | 2021-05-26 | 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)
RubyGems(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| rexml | 3.1.7.3 ... 3.2.4 (9 versions) | 3.2.5 | — |
Additional Vendor Advisories
(5)
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.
- Microsoft MSRCCVE-2021-289652021-04-30
The REXML gem before 3.2.5 in Ruby before 2.6.7 2.7.x before 2.7.3 and 3.x before 3.0.1 does not properly address XML round-trip issues. An incorrect document can be produced after parsing and serializing.
- Red HatRHSA-2021:2229MODERATE2021-04-05
RHSA-2021:2229 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:2584MODERATE2021-04-05
RHSA-2021:2584 — Moderate
- UbuntuUSN-4922-1MEDIUM
Ruby vulnerability
- UbuntuUSN-4922-2MEDIUM
Ruby vulnerability
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 44× 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
- 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-02 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 05:18 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 14:05 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
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- 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:51 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 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 08:43 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 13:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 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
- 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 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
- 2026-05-29 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
- 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 18:06 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-26 18:06 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 07:17 UTCEPSS rescore
Related CVEs(same vendor)
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2021-28965?
When was CVE-2021-28965 disclosed?
Is CVE-2021-28965 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-28965?
How do I remediate CVE-2021-28965?
Dependency Blast Radius
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