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OpenAdvisories
High · 7.5 Public exploit CVE-2021-21341 BIT-activemq-2021-21341EUVD-2021-0586GHSA-2p3x-qw9c-25hh

XStream can cause a Denial of Service

Published Mar 22, 2021 · Updated Oct 7, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Vendor: x-stream Product: xstream Package: com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream Package: libxstream-java Package: libxstream-java Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Maven Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

XStream is a Java library to serialize objects to XML and back again. In XStream before version 1.4.16, there is vulnerability which 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. If you rely on XStream's default blacklist of the Security Framework, you will have to use at least version 1.4.16.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
x-stream xstream < 1.4.16 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

Debian

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 libxstream-java 1.4.15-2 —
Debian 13 libxstream-java 1.4.15-2 —
Debian 12 libxstream-java 1.4.15-2 —
Debian 9 libxstream-java 1.4.11.1-1+deb9u2 DLA-2616-1

Ubuntu

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS libxstream-java 1.4.11.1-1ubuntu0.2 USN-4943-1
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS libxstream-java 1.4.11.1-1~18.04.2 USN-4943-1
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS libxstream-java 1.4.8-1ubuntu0.1+esm3 USN-6978-1
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS libxstream-java 1.4.7-1ubuntu0.1+esm2 USN-6978-1

SUSE

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP3 xstream 1.4.16-3.8.1 SUSE-SU-2021:1840-1
SLES 15 SP2 xstream 1.4.16-3.8.1 SUSE-SU-2021:1840-1
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.2 xstream 1.4.16-3.8.1 SUSE-SU-2021:1840-2
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 xstream 1.4.16-3.8.1 SUSE-SU-2021:1840-1

openSUSE

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Tumbleweed xstream 1.4.18-1.1 openSUSE-SU-2024:10592-1
openSUSE Leap 15.3 xstream 1.4.16-3.8.1 openSUSE-SU-2021:1840-1
openSUSE Leap 15.2 xstream 1.4.16-lp152.2.6.1 openSUSE-SU-2021:0832-1

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2 xstream +1 1.3.1-13.amzn2 ALAS2-2021-1645

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

GitHub 2 repositories

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
Maven com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream < 1.4.16 1.4.16 GHSA-2p3x-qw9c-25hh

Advisories 10

References