Cyber Resilience

CVE-2021-20453

High

Published: 20 April 2021

Published
20 April 2021
Modified
21 November 2024
KEV Added
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Patch
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CVSS Score v3.1 8.2 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0008 24.2th percentile
Risk Priority 16 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2021-20453 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference (CWE-611) vulnerability in Ibm Websphere Application Server. Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 24.2th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0 is vulnerable to a XML External Entity Injection (XXE) attack when processing XML data. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability to expose sensitive information or consume memory resources. IBM X-Force ID:…

more

196648.

CWE(s)
CWE-611

Related Threats

No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.

Affected Assets

ibm
websphere application server
8.0.0.0 — 8.0.0.15 · 8.5.0.0 — 8.5.5.20 · 9.0.0.0 — 9.0.5.8

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

CA-8 Penetration Testing
addresses: CWE-611

Penetration testing includes XML external entity payloads, detecting XXE vulnerabilities and enabling their mitigation.

SI-4 System Monitoring
addresses: CWE-611

Identifies XML external entity processing via monitoring of unusual file/network access or resource usage.

References