`CVE-2021-27850` Apache Tapestry

Affected software	Apache Tapestry
Severity	9.8 Critical CVSS 3.1 2 scores
Fixed in	`5.6.3`, `5.7.1`
Weakness	Deserialization of untrusted data (CWE-502)
Published	15 Apr 2021
Updated	17 Jun 2026

Description

A critical unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability was found all recent versions of Apache Tapestry. The affected versions include 5.4.5, 5.5.0, 5.6.2 and 5.7.0. The vulnerability I have found is a bypass of the fix for CVE-2019-0195. Recap: Before the fix of CVE-2019-0195 it was possible to download arbitrary class files from the classpath by providing a crafted asset file URL. An attacker was able to download the file AppModule.class by requesting the URL http://localhost:8080/assets/something/services/AppModule.class which contains a HMAC secret key. The fix for that bug was a blacklist filter that checks if the URL ends with .class, .properties or .xml. Bypass: Unfortunately, the blacklist solution can simply be bypassed by appending a / at the end of the URL: http://localhost:8080/assets/something/services/AppModule.class/ The slash is stripped after the blacklist check and the file AppModule.class is loaded into the response. This class usually contains the HMAC secret key which is used to sign serialized Java objects. With the knowledge of that key an attacker can sign a Java gadget chain that leads to RCE (e.g. CommonsBeanUtils1 from ysoserial). Solution for this vulnerability: * For Apache Tapestry 5.4.0 to 5.6.1, upgrade to 5.6.2 or later. * For Apache Tapestry 5.7.0, upgrade to 5.7.1 or later.

CWE-200 · Information exposureCWE-922

Exploitation status

Exploited

Real-world exploitation reported by VulnCheck KEV. CISA has not confirmed it.

CISA KEV not listed
VulnCheck KEV listed Exploitation reported in the wild. 1 citation · honeypot sightings · 4 exploits · earliest 2023-12-03.
CISA Vulnrichment no assessment published
Indexed PoC 5 indexed Published artifacts you can open, in GitHub PoC, Nuclei; first seen 2021-06-25.
EPSS 94% chance in 30 days A model's forecast, not a report of exploitation. Higher than 99.8% of all scored CVEs.

VulnCheck KEV

Exploitation evidence from VulnCheck Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (VulnCheck KEV), used under VulnCheck's community terms. View CVE-2021-27850 in VulnCheck (free account).

Evidence	Source	Detail	Date
Honeypot sighting	Shadowserver honeypots	Exploitation attempts seen on 625 days	2023-12-03 to 2026-11-11
Reported exploitation	greynoise.io	/blog/u-s-and-uk-warn-of-russian-cyber-threats-9-of-24-vulnerabilities-in-the-advisory-are-being-probed-right-now	2024-10-17
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB a47314978e85	Exploit type: local	2021-06-26
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 1f38fe1766df	Exploit type: initial-access	2021-07-02
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 4c3deb656f30	Exploit type: local	2023-12-21
Exploit reference	VulnCheck XDB 93bb5020bd80	Exploit type: initial-access	2026-02-23

Evidence

Source

Detail

Date

Honeypot sighting

Shadowserver honeypots

Exploitation attempts seen on 625 days

2023-12-03 to 2026-11-11

Reported exploitation

greynoise.io

/blog/u-s-and-uk-warn-of-russian-cyber-threats-9-of-24-vulnerabilities-in-the-advisory-are-being-probed-right-now

2024-10-17

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB a47314978e85

Exploit type: local

2021-06-26

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 1f38fe1766df

Exploit type: initial-access

2021-07-02

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 4c3deb656f30

Exploit type: local

2023-12-21

Exploit reference

VulnCheck XDB 93bb5020bd80

Exploit type: initial-access

2026-02-23

3 of these are GitHub repositories with fewer than 5 stars. They are listed for reference and don't count toward the exploitation status above.

Index	Artifact	Stars	First seen
GitHub PoC	A Proof of concept for CVE-2021-27850 affecting Apache Tapestry and leading to unauthencticated remote code execution.	5	2021-06-25
GitHub PoC	A Proof of concept for CVE-2021-27850 affecting Apache Tapestry and leading to unauthencticated remote code execution.	3	2021-06-26
GitHub PoC	Apache Tapestry CVE-2021-27850 PoC	2	2021-07-02
GitHub PoC	CVE-2021-27850 ysoserial		2022-07-07
Nuclei	Apache Tapestry - Remote Code Execution

Waratek protection

Protected by Waratek

Waratek has a rule that blocks attacks on this vulnerability.

Protection full Deserialization, Process
Action available security rule
Review automated Inferred
Record active

Decided by	A vulnerability class already blocked by an ARMR security rule
Finding	Protected by Waratek's ARMR deserialization security rule, which blocks this class of attack at the JVM level without a rule written for this CVE specifically. The CVE's weakness is CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data.

Decided by

A vulnerability class already blocked by an ARMR security rule

Finding

Protected by Waratek's ARMR deserialization security rule, which blocks this class of attack at the JVM level without a rule written for this CVE specifically. The CVE's weakness is CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data.

How to mitigate CVE-2021-27850

Upgrade Apache Tapestry to a release that fixes it: 5.6.3 or 5.7.1. Until you can, Waratek RASP blocks exploitation with its deserialization and process rules. It runs inside the Java application, with no code changes.

Waratek RASP Runtime protection for Java applications

CVSS

9.8 CRITICAL v3.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 2 metrics

We show the highest score from the newest CVSS version. Scores from different versions can't be compared, and the first score listed is sometimes a 0.0 placeholder.

Version Score Band Vector Assigner Type

CVSS 3.1 9.8 CRITICAL CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H NVD Primary published

CVSS 2.0 10.0 none AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C NVD Primary

Version	Score	Band	Vector	Assigner	Type
CVSS 3.1	9.8	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`	NVD	Primary	published
CVSS 2.0	10.0	none	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`	NVD	Primary

Affected software and releases

Maven packages

Affected and fixed versions, from OSV.dev

Package Introduced Fixed Last affected

org.apache.tapestry:tapestry-core 5.4.0 5.6.3 unbounded

org.apache.tapestry:tapestry-core 5.7.0 5.7.1 unbounded

Package	Introduced	Fixed	Last affected
`org.apache.tapestry:tapestry-core`	5.4.0	`5.6.3`	unbounded
`org.apache.tapestry:tapestry-core`	5.7.0	`5.7.1`	unbounded

Products and versions

2 products, 4 version entries

Source	Vendor	Product	Scheme	Affected versions
nvd	apache	tapestry	generic	≥ 5.4.0 and ＜ 5.6.2 · ≥ 5.7.0 and ＜ 5.7.1
osv	org.apache.tapestry	tapestry-core	generic	≥ 5.4.0 and ＜ 5.6.3 · ≥ 5.7.0 and ＜ 5.7.1

Source

Vendor

Product

Scheme

Affected versions

nvd

apache

tapestry

generic

≥ 5.4.0 and ＜ 5.6.2 · ≥ 5.7.0 and ＜ 5.7.1

osv

org.apache.tapestry

tapestry-core

generic

≥ 5.4.0 and ＜ 5.6.3 · ≥ 5.7.0 and ＜ 5.7.1

References

URL	Tags
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/TAP5-2663	WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r237ff7f286bda31682c254550c1ebf92b0ec61329b32fbeb2d1c8751%40%3Cusers.tapestry.apache.org%3E	WEB
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210528-0002	WEB
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/04/15/1	WEB
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210528-0002/	Third Party Advisory

URL

Timeline

Published	2021-04-15	By the CVE Program.
VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence	2023-12-03	Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.
NVD record modified	2026-06-17	NVD's own last-modified date for this record.
VulnCheck KEV: latest evidence	2026-11-11	Date of the newest report, exploit reference or honeypot sighting in VulnCheck KEV's record.

Published

2021-04-15

By the CVE Program.

VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence

2023-12-03

Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.

NVD record modified

2026-06-17

NVD's own last-modified date for this record.

VulnCheck KEV: latest evidence

2026-11-11

Date of the newest report, exploit reference or honeypot sighting in VulnCheck KEV's record.

How VRT decided (17 of 24 rules ran)

17 of 24 rules ran. The rest didn't run because an earlier rule had already settled the CVE.

# Rule Outcome Status Detail

identity: Does this identifier describe a vulnerability at all? the first rule that matches decides

1 rejected no match CVE Program withdrawal of this identifier

scope: Is it a vulnerability Waratek protects? the first rule that matches decides

2 armr-patch-file no match An ARMR patch file on disk for this CVE

3 armr-secure-rule-file no match An ARMR security-rule template on disk for this CVE

4 manual-classification no match A researcher's recorded decision for this specific CVE

5 manual classification no match Manual classification of this CVE in the legacy dataset

6 non-java-upstream no match A root cause in non-Java code: an OS kernel, a C library, or a bundled runtime

7 oracle-component no match The defect being in a component of a tracked product the agent does not reach: JavaFX, the Java SE installer, the JInitiator browser plug-in, the native WebLogic proxy plug-in, or a native part of Oracle Application Server or Collaboration Suite (HTTP Server, Web Cache, Internet Directory, mail and calendar servers). Oracle gives these no CPE of their own and names them only in the description.

8 java-client-side no match Oracle's own risk-matrix note saying the CVE is reached only through untrusted code in the Java sandbox (applets, Web Start) or only through a client installation of Java, so a server running its own trusted code is not exposed

9 osv-maven matched In scope Maven packages: org.apache.tapestry:tapestry-core

10 cna-maven-package not reached An affected Maven artifact named by the CNA itself

11 known-cpe-product not reached An NVD CPE naming a product ARMR tracks

12 cna-cpe-product not reached A CPE the CNA published naming a tracked product. Oracle publishes these on advisory day, months before NVD.

13 oracle-advisory-family not reached A tracked product family named in Oracle's own risk matrix. CPE cannot carry a suite name, only a module.

14 cna-named-product not reached A tracked product named in words by the CVE's own CNA, on a record with no CPE yet. Apache and Eclipse publish these on advisory day, before NVD adds CPE data.

15 non-deployable-product not reached The only affected product being a sealed appliance image, where Java runs but no -javaagent can be attached

16 unmatched-product not reached No tracked product matched above, and none present at all

disposition: What do we do about one that is? every rule runs

17 patch-hint no match A reference pointing at the upstream fix: a commit, a PR, a Red Hat bug

18 open-source-maven matched Mitigation candidate Open-source Maven artifact indexed by OSV (Maven packages: org.apache.tapestry:tapestry-core). The source is public, which makes an ARMR patch rule a candidate; nothing here establishes that one can be written.

19 poc-derivable skipped An indexed exploit clearing the evidence bar to reverse-engineer, where there is no source to read

20 no-exploit skipped Nothing to build a rule from yet: no published exploit, no CISA record of exploitation and no source-level change to read

21 secure-rule-match decided it matched Protected by Waratek CWE-502 (Deserialization of Untrusted Data) is mitigable by an ARMR deserialization security rule.

22 exploited-no-fix-or-poc skipped Somebody exploiting this CVE (a CISA or VulnCheck KEV listing, or a CISA verdict of active exploitation), with no fix, source code or PoC to build a rule from

23 below-action-threshold skipped Medium or Low severity, no CISA or VulnCheck KEV listing, no PoC clearing the evidence bar, no CISA verdict, no Oracle advisory

24 no-exploit-published skipped Exploit code for this candidate, published in a reviewed catalogue or a GitHub repository with 5 or more stars, or in use per CISA or VulnCheck; not only a CISA verdict, a forecast, or nothing at all

Products the scope rules checked

The products this CVE's record names, and whether VRT tracks each one. The scope rules decided on these.

Vendor Product Tracked CPE Source

apache tapestry not tracked cpe:2.3:a:apache:tapestry:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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