All versions of Apache Santuario - XML Security for Java prior to 2.2.3 and 2.1.7 are vulnerable to an issue where the "secureValidation" property is not passed correctly when creating a KeyInfo from a KeyInfoReference element. This allows an attacker to abuse an XPath Transform to extract any local .xml files in a RetrievalMethod element.
CVE-2021-40690
This high-severity CVE scores 7.5 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 7.4%, top 6% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.5
- EG Score
- 7.5(medium)
- EG Risk
- —
- EPSS
- 93.8%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
September 19, 2021
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (28)
- security@apachehttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r3b3f5ba9b0de8c9c125077b71af06026d344a709a8ba67db81ee9faa%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- security@apachehttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r401ecb7274794f040cd757b259ebe3e8c463ae74f7961209ccad3c59%40%3Cissues.cxf.apache.org%3E
- security@apachehttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8848751b6a5dd78cc9e99d627e74fecfaffdfa1bb615dce827aad633%40%3Cdev.santuario.apache.org%3E
- security@apachehttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8a5c0ce9014bd07303aec1e5eed55951704878016465d3dae00e0c28%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- security@apachehttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9c100d53c84d54cf71975e3f0cfcc2856a8846554a04c99390156ce4%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- security@apachehttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/raf352f95c19c0c4051af3180752cb69acbea88d0d066ab176c6170e8%40%3Cuser.poi.apache.org%3E
- security@apachehttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rbbbac0759b12472abd0c278d32b5e0867bb21934df8e14e5e641597c%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- security@apachehttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rbdac116aef912b563da54f4c152222c0754e32fb2f785519ac5e059f%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- security@apachehttps://lists.apache.org/thread.html/re294cfc61f509512874ea514d8d64fd276253d54ac378ffa7a4880c8%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- security@apachehttps://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/09/msg00015.html
- security@apachehttps://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230818-0002/
- security@apachehttps://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5010
- security@apachehttps://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html
- security@apachehttps://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2022.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r3b3f5ba9b0de8c9c125077b71af06026d344a709a8ba67db81ee9faa%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2021-40690(3)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- RHSA-2025:4226Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.1.10 on RHEL 7 security update
- RHSA-2022:5532Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Fuse 7.11.0 release and security update
- RHSA-2022:1013Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Integration Camel Extensions for Quarkus 2.2.1 security update
Patch Availability(12)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | libxml-security-java (2.0.10-2+deb11u1build0.20.04.1) @ focal | 2026-05-26 | ubuntu |
| redhat | eap7-xml-security-0:2.0.10-2.redhat_00002.1.ep7.el7 | 2025-04-28 | redhat |
| redhat | camel-quarkus-xmlsecurity | 2022-09-09 | redhat |
| redhat | xmlsec | 2022-07-07 | redhat |
| redhat | patch | 2022-03-22 | redhat |
| redhat | rh-sso-7/sso75-openshift-rhel8:7.5-15 | 2022-01-18 | redhat |
| redhat | patch | 2022-01-17 | redhat |
| redhat | rh-sso7-keycloak-0:15.0.4-1.redhat_00001.1.el7sso | 2022-01-17 | redhat |
| redhat | rh-sso7-keycloak-0:15.0.4-1.redhat_00001.1.el8sso | 2022-01-17 | redhat |
| redhat | eap7-xml-security-0:2.1.7-1.redhat_00001.1.el6eap | 2021-12-15 | redhat |
| redhat | eap7-xml-security-0:2.1.7-1.redhat_00001.1.el7eap | 2021-12-15 | redhat |
| redhat | eap7-xml-security-0:2.1.7-1.redhat_00001.1.el8eap | 2021-12-15 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Maven(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| org.apache.santuario:xmlsec | 1.4.0 ... 2.1.6 (38 versions) | 2.1.7 | — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Additional Vendor Advisories
(14)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
- Red HatRHSA-2021:4679MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2021:4679 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:5149MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2021:5149 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:5150MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2021:5150 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:5151MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2021:5151 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:5154MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2021:5154 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2021:5170MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2021:5170 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2022:0146MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2022:0146 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2022:0151MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2022:0151 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2022:0152MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2022:0152 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2022:0155MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2022:0155 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2022:0164MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2022:0164 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2022:0501MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2022:0501 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2022:6407MODERATE2021-09-17
RHSA-2022:6407 — Moderate
- UbuntuUSN-5525-1MEDIUM
Apache XML Security for Java vulnerability
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 12× in last 7d / 49× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 105 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-07-22 22:50 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 14:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 11:29 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 10:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 06:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 06:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 05:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 moreShow fewer
- 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-02 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 13:30 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-28 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-15 17:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-14 23:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-14 23:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 21:10 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-11 13:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 13:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 22:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 22:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 00:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-29 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)
Same vendor
10 shownredhat
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2021-40690?
When was CVE-2021-40690 disclosed?
Is CVE-2021-40690 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-40690?
How do I remediate CVE-2021-40690?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2021-40690
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2021-40690?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.