WaratekVRT Sign in

CVE-2021-28170 Jakarta Expression Language

Affected softwareJakarta Expression Language
Severity5.3 Medium CVSS 3.1 2 scores
Fixed in3.0.4
WeaknessExpression language injection (CWE-917)
Published26 May 2021
Updated17 Jun 2026

Description

In the Jakarta Expression Language implementation 3.0.3 and earlier, a bug in the ELParserTokenManager enables invalid EL expressions to be evaluated as if they were valid.

CWE-20 · Improper input validation

Exploitation status

No public exploit

No exploit has been reported in the sources we check. Published 5 years ago.

  • CISA KEV not listed
  • VulnCheck KEV not listed
  • CISA Vulnrichment no assessment published
  • Indexed PoC none indexed
  • EPSS 2.1% chance in 30 days

Waratek protection

Outside Waratek scope

A Java vulnerability, but not one Waratek protects. It affects only Java on a user's desktop (applets, Web Start, JavaFX, the installer), sits in a product the Waratek agent can't be installed into, or is in a package we don't expect in business applications. The decision below says which.

  • Protection none
  • Action not pursued none
  • Review human Researcher
  • Record active
Decided by Manual classification of this CVE in the legacy dataset
Finding A manual classification set this CVE's status to Outside Waratek scope, but the CVE names a tracked product.

CVSS

5.3 MEDIUM v3.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N 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.

VersionScoreBandVectorAssignerType
CVSS 3.1 5.3 MEDIUM CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N NVD Primary published
CVSS 2.0 5.0 none AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N NVD Primary

Affected software and releases

Oracle advisories

AdvisoryTypeQuarterProducts Oracle names in its risk matrix
Oracle Critical Patch Update April 2025 ↗ CPU 2025-Q2 Oracle Financial Services Applications / Common Core (Jakarta Expression Language) (14.7.0.7.0)
Oracle Critical Patch Update October 2024 ↗ CPU 2024-Q4 Oracle Commerce / Dynamo Application Framework (Jakarta Expression Language) (11.3.0, 11.3.1, 11.3.2)
Oracle Critical Patch Update April 2022 ↗ CPU 2022-Q2 Oracle Communications / Policy (Jakarta) (1.14.0)
Oracle Fusion Middleware / Centralized Third Party Jars (JBoss Enterprise Application Platform) (14.1.1.0.0)

Oracle components and versions

FamilyComponentVersions, as Oracle lists themRead as
Oracle Commerce Dynamo Application Framework (Jakarta Expression Language) 11.3.0, 11.3.1, 11.3.2 11.3.0 · 11.3.1 · 11.3.2
Oracle Communications Policy (Jakarta) 1.14.0 1.14.0
Oracle Financial Services Applications Common Core (Jakarta Expression Language) 14.7.0.7.0 14.7.0.7.0
Oracle Fusion Middleware Centralized Third Party Jars (JBoss Enterprise Application Platform) 14.1.1.0.0 14.1.1.0.0

Maven packages

Affected and fixed versions, from OSV.dev
PackageIntroducedFixedLast affected
com.sun.el:el-ri 0 3.0.4 unbounded
org.glassfish:jakarta.el 0 3.0.4 unbounded
org.glassfish:javax.el 0 none 3.0.1-b12

Products and versions

7 products, 7 version entries
SourceVendorProductSchemeAffected versions
osv com.sun.el el-ri generic < 3.0.4
nvd eclipse jakarta expression language generic ≤ 3.0.3
nvd oracle communications cloud native core policy generic 1.14.0
nvd oracle weblogic server generic 14.1.1.0.0
osv org.glassfish jakarta.el generic < 3.0.4
osv org.glassfish javax.el generic ≤ 3.0.1.12
nvd quarkus quarkus generic < 2.3.0

References

URLTags
https://github.com/eclipse-ee4j/el-ri/issues/155 WEB
https://github.com/eclipse-ee4j/el-ri/pull/160/commits/b6a3943ac5fba71cbc6719f092e319caa747855b WEB
https://github.com/eclipse-ee4j/el-ri PACKAGE
https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JAVA-ORGGLASSFISH-1297098 WEB
https://security.snyk.io/vuln/SNYK-JAVA-ORGGLASSFISH-2841368 WEB
https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2020-021-jakarta-el ADVISORY
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html WEB
https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2020-021-jakarta-el/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory

Timeline

Published2021-05-26By the CVE Program.
NVD record modified2026-06-17NVD's own last-modified date for this record.