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XStream can cause a Denial of Service

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Aug 22, 2021 in x-stream/xstream • Updated Jan 27, 2023

Package

maven com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream (Maven)

Affected versions

< 1.4.18

Patched versions

1.4.18

Description

Impact

The vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to allocate 100% CPU time on the target system depending on CPU type or parallel execution of such a payload resulting in a denial of service 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-2021-39140.

Credits

The vulnerability was discovered and reported by Lai Han of nsfocus security team.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

References

@joehni joehni published to x-stream/xstream Aug 22, 2021
Reviewed Aug 23, 2021
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Aug 23, 2021
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Aug 25, 2021
Last updated Jan 27, 2023

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

1.773%
(89th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2021-39140

GHSA ID

GHSA-6wf9-jmg9-vxcc

Source code

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