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CVE-2021-39144

Code Injection: Is CVE-2021-39144 real, exploitable, or a false positive? Here's the community verdict.

Community verdict: No field verdicts yet. Be the first practitioner to weigh in.

signals

public sources

Exploited in wild
Yes
CISA KEV · Mar 10, 2023
Public exploit
Metasploit
Metasploit/EDB/PoC
Base severity
8.5 High
CVSS
Exploitation prob.
98%
FIRST EPSS
Weakness
CWE-94 · Code Injection
CWE

Confirmed exploited in the wild. Patch this first, regardless of the base score.

cisa ssvc

CISA Vulnrichment · assessed

Exploitation
Active
in the wild
Automatable
No
at scale
Technical impact
Total
on success

CISA decision, by how critical the affected system is to you:

  • low impact → Track
  • medium impact → Attend
  • high impact → Act

Track: normal patch cycle · Track*: watch closely · Attend: patch sooner · Act: patch now. About SSVC ↗

public exploits

links to sources — we don’t host code

A working exploit is publicly available from a maintained source. Treat this as higher urgency and verify your exposure.

affected packages

GHSA-j9h8-phrw-h4fh · GitHub rates it high
  • Mavencom.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream
    Vulnerable
    < 1.4.18
    Fixed in
    1.4.18

Source: GitHub Advisory Database (CC-BY 4.0), via OSV.dev. Check your lockfile version against the ranges above.

baseline read

auto · not a community verdict

Real — exploited in the wild

CISA confirms active exploitation. Treat scanner hits as true positives unless your specific version or config is unaffected.

Based on CISA KEV

Confirm or dispute →

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

XStream is a simple library to serialize objects to XML and back again. In affected versions this vulnerability may allow a remote attacker has sufficient rights to execute commands of the 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.

Published · Added to CISA KEV (564 days after publication)

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timeline

  1. CISA SSVC assessment · exploitation: active
  2. Added to CISA KEV · confirmed exploited in the wild
  3. Added to VulnCheck KEV · reported exploited in the wild
  4. Published by NVD

Score and exploit changes tracked since .

Community ground truth

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In your experience, is this finding real and exploitable?

awaiting field verdicts
Real, but not a risk here
Not a real issue

Curated baseline: TruePositive's read from public sources is Real & exploitable — a starting point, not a community verdict.

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Field notes & remediation

Verdicts are the quick signal. Notes are the evidence and fixes behind them.

  • 0
    Field note · TruePositive EditorialCurated

    XStream Remote Code Execution Vulnerability — XStream contains a remote code execution vulnerability that allows an attacker to manipulate the processed input stream and replace or inject objects that result in the execution of a local command on the server. This vulnerability can affect multiple products, including but not limited to VMware Cloud Foundation. Listed in the CISA KEV catalog (added 2023-03-10) — confirmed exploited in the wild, not theoretical. FIRST EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at ~98%. Treat it as real and prioritize remediation over triage.

  • 0
    Remediation · TruePositive EditorialCurated

    Required action for XStream XStream: Apply updates per vendor instructions. CISA set a federal remediation due date of 2023-03-31. After patching, verify the vulnerable path is no longer reachable before closing the finding.

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Same weakness: CWE-94 · Code Injection.