NVD / CVE Program· CNA apache

CVE-2021-22696: OAuth 2 authorization service vulnerable to DDos attacks

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 32/100)

The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 6.5% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 93.8% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
Fixed version: org.apache.cxf:apache-cxf (Maven) 3.4.3, 3.3.10; org.apache.cxf:cxf (Maven) 3.4.3, 3.3.10.
Mentioned 2 times in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Low priority for now. Upgrade to org.apache.cxf:apache-cxf (Maven) 3.4.3, 3.3.10; org.apache.cxf:cxf (Maven) 3.4.3, 3.3.10 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

CXF supports (via JwtRequestCodeFilter) passing OAuth 2 parameters via a JWT token as opposed to query parameters (see: The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework: JWT Secured Authorization Request (JAR)). Instead of sending a JWT token as a "request" parameter, the spec also supports specifying a URI from which to retrieve a JWT token from via the "request_uri" parameter. CXF was not validating the "request_uri" parameter (apart from ensuring it uses "https) and was making a REST request to the parameter in the request to retrieve a token. This means that CXF was vulnerable to DDos attacks on the authorization server, as specified in section 10.4.1 of the spec. This issue affects Apache CXF versions prior to 3.4.3; Apache CXF versions prior to 3.3.10.

HighCVSS 7.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

GHSA-7q4h-pj78-j7vg

Published: Apr 2, 2021
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 6.5% · 93th percentile
CWE: CWE-400

Report tools

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Action score

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS: 30 / 40 · 7.5 / 10
CISA KEV: 0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS: 2 / 30 · 6.5%

Get told when this record changes

Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
No public exploit code on record
A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

Vendor	Product	CPE
apache	cxf	cpe:2.3:a:apache:cxf
oracle	business intelligence	cpe:2.3:a:oracle:business_intelligence
oracle	communications diameter intelligence hub	cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_diameter_intelligence_hub
oracle	communications element manager	cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_element_manager
oracle	communications session report manager	cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_session_report_manager
oracle	communications session route manager	cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_session_route_manager

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

apache cxf3.4.0 and later · before 3.4.3
apache cxfbefore 3.3.10
oracle business intelligence12.2.1.3.0
oracle business intelligence12.2.1.4.0
oracle business intelligence5.5.0.0.0
oracle business intelligence5.9.0.0.0
oracle communications diameter intelligence hub8.2.0 and later · up to 8.2.3 inclusive
oracle communications diameter intelligence hub8.0.0 and later · up to 8.1.0 inclusive
oracle communications element manager8.2.2
oracle communications session report manager8.0.0 and later · up to 8.2.4.0 inclusive
oracle communications session route manager8.0.0 and later · up to 8.2.4 inclusive

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (apache). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

Apache Software Foundation Apache CXF
- unspecified and later · before 3.4.3affected
- unspecified and later · before 3.3.10affected

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

Ecosystem	Package	Affected range	Fix
Maven	org.apache.cxf:apache-cxf	from 3.4.0 · before 3.4.3	3.4.3
Maven	org.apache.cxf:apache-cxf	before 3.3.10	3.3.10
Maven	org.apache.cxf:cxf	from 3.4.0 · before 3.4.3	3.4.3
Maven	org.apache.cxf:cxf	before 3.3.10	3.3.10

Same product

apache: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2019-12419Apache CXF before 3.3.4 and 3.2.11 provides all of the components that are required to build a fully fledged OpenId Connect service.
43Plan
CVE-2010-2076Apache CXF 2.0.x before 2.0.13, 2.1.x before 2.1.10, and 2.2.x before 2.2.9, as used in Apache ServiceMix, Apache Camel, Apache Chemistry, A
42Plan
CVE-2012-2379Apache CXF 2.4.x before 2.4.8, 2.5.x before 2.5.4, and 2.6.x before 2.6.1, when a Supporting Token specifies a child WS-SecurityPolicy 1.1 o
41Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2020-1954Apr 1, 2020 · Apache CXF has the ability to integrate with JMX by registering an InstrumentationManager extension with the CXF bus.
23Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2020-13954Nov 12, 2020 · Apache CXF Reflected XSS in the services listing page via the styleSheetPath
36Monitor
Later →CVE-2021-30468Jun 16, 2021 · Apache CXF Denial of service vulnerability in parsing JSON via JsonMapObjectReaderWriter
32Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / package	Fixed version	Source
Maven:org.apache.cxf:apache-cxf	3.3.10	Package registry (OSV)
Maven:org.apache.cxf:apache-cxf	3.4.3	Package registry (OSV)
Maven:org.apache.cxf:cxf	3.3.10	Package registry (OSV)
Maven:org.apache.cxf:cxf	3.4.3	Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

TR-21-0674 · Aug 25, 2021(IBM Güvenlik Bülteni Yayınladı)
TR-21-0435 · Jun 2, 2021(IBM Güvenlik Bülteni Yayınladı)

All national notices →

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
No account or password is required.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: none
Integrity: none
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

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

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-400 · Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

Code that parses nested structures sets no depth or size limit. A small input can turn into a disproportionate processing load.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-400 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1function expand(node) {
2  return node.children.map(expand);
3}

Fixed

1const MAX_DEPTH = 32;
2function expand(node, depth = 0) {
3  if (depth > MAX_DEPTH) throw new Error("too deep");
4  return node.children.map((c) => expand(c, depth + 1));
5}

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

Endpoint Denial of ServiceT1499

Change log

Fix✗ → ✓Sep 28, 2026, 10:45 PM UTC

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/04/02/2

Show all references (8 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records