Vulnerability in the Java SE, Java SE Embedded, Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition product of Oracle Java SE (component: Libraries).

published 2021-04-22 5 y ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-java-2021-2161 , BIT-java-min-2021-2161 , BIT-jre-2021-2161 , EUVD-2021-16620

cvss: 5.9; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 3.5%; EPSS 3.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 89%
public exploits: 0; none known

Vulnerability in the Java SE, Java SE Embedded, Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition product of Oracle Java SE (component: Libraries). Supported versions that are affected are Java SE: 7u291, 8u281, 11.0.10, 16; Java SE Embedded: 8u281; Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition: 19.3.5, 20.3.1.2 and 21.0.0.2. Difficult to exploit vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via multiple protocols to compromise Java SE, Java SE Embedded, Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized creation, deletion or modification access to critical data or all Java SE, Java SE Embedded, Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition accessible data. Note: This vulnerability applies to Java deployments that load and run untrusted code (e.g., code that comes from the internet) and rely on the Java sandbox for security. It can also be exploited by supplying untrusted data to APIs in the specified Component. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 5.9 (Integrity impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N).

Patch / fix

fixed in 12 distros 3 links 1

bitnami java 1.7.0, 1.8.0, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
bitnami java-min 1.7.0, 1.8.0, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
bitnami jre 1.7.0, 1.8.0, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
oracle java_se 1.7.0_301, 1.8.0_291, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
oracle jdk 1.7.0_301, 1.8.0_291, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
oracle jre 1.7.0_301, 1.8.0_291, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
sun java 1.7.0_301, 1.8.0_291, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
sun java_se 1.7.0_301, 1.8.0_291, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
sun jdk 1.7.0_301, 1.8.0_291, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
sun jre 1.7.0_301, 1.8.0_291, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
oracle openjdk 1.7.0_301, 1.8.0_291, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1
sun openjdk 1.7.0_301, 1.8.0_291, 7.0.301, 8.0.291, 11.0.11, 16.0.1

suse opensuse alpine

java-1_7_0-openjdk SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5 1.7.0.311-43.50.2
java-1_8_0-openjdk SLES for SAP 15 SP1, SLES for SAP 15, SLES 15-LTSS +8 more 1.8.0.302-3.55.2
java-1_8_0-openjdk SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES for SAP 12 SP4, SLES for SAP 12 SP3 +10 more 1.8.0.302-27.63.2
java-11-openjdk SLES for SAP 15 SP1, SLES for SAP 15, SLES 15-LTSS +14 more 11.0.11.0-3.56.1
java-11-openjdk SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5 11.0.11.0-3.21.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2021:3007-1 SUSE-SU-2021:2798-1 SUSE-SU-2021:2797-1 SUSE-SU-2021:1554-1 SUSE-SU-2021:1314-1

java-11-openjdk openSUSE Tumbleweed 11.0.12.0-3.1
java-13-openjdk openSUSE Tumbleweed 13.0.8.0-3.1
java-15-openjdk openSUSE Tumbleweed 15.0.4.0-2.1
java-16-openjdk openSUSE Tumbleweed 16.0.2.0-2.1
java-1_8_0-openjdk openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.8.0.302-2.2
java-1_8_0-openj9 openSUSE Leap 15.2 1.8.0.312-lp152.3.12.1
java-1_8_0-openj9 openSUSE Leap 15.3 1.8.0.312-3.18.2
java-1_8_0-openjdk openSUSE Leap 15.2 1.8.0.302-lp152.2.15.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10871-1 openSUSE-SU-2024:10872-1 openSUSE-SU-2024:10873-1 openSUSE-SU-2024:10874-1 openSUSE-SU-2024:10876-1 openSUSE-SU-2021:1455-1

openjdk7 Alpine 3.18, Alpine 3.17, Alpine 3.16 +2 more 7.301.2.6.26-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2021-2161

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2021.html advisory

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2021-2161 updated 2026-11-07 cvss 5.9

OpenJDK: Incorrect handling of partially quoted arguments in ProcessBuilder on Windows (Libraries, 8250568)

Red Hat build of OpenJDK 1.8 Windows Windows Red Hat build of OpenJDK 11 Windows Windows
affected: no fix available
Red Hat Build of OpenJDK
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:1445
Red Hat build of OpenJDK 1.8 Linux Linux Red Hat build of OpenJDK 11 Linux Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 java-1.7.1-ibm, java-1.8.0-ibm, java-11-openjdk, java-1.7.1-ibm-src, java-1.8.0-ibm-src, java-1.8.0-openjdk, +19 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 java-1.8.0-ibm, java-11-openjdk, java-1.8.0-ibm-src, java-1.8.0-openjdk, java-1.8.0-ibm-demo, java-1.8.0-ibm-jdbc, +42 more
not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 2 y ago (2024-09-26)

Exploit prediction

3.49% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 89% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	5.9	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
NVD	2.0	4.3	AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
OSV	3.1	5.9	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
bitnami	java	<1.7.0 >=1.8.0, <1.8.0 >=7.0.0, <7.0.301 >=8.0.0, <8.0.291 >=9.0.0, <11.0.11 >=12.0.0, <16.0.1	1.7.0 1.8.0 7.0.301 8.0.291 11.0.11 16.0.1
bitnami	java-min	<1.7.0 >=1.8.0, <1.8.0 >=7.0.0, <7.0.301 >=8.0.0, <8.0.291 >=9.0.0, <11.0.11 >=12.0.0, <16.0.1	1.7.0 1.8.0 7.0.301 8.0.291 11.0.11 16.0.1
bitnami	jre	<1.7.0 >=1.8.0, <1.8.0 >=7.0.0, <7.0.301 >=8.0.0, <8.0.291 >=9.0.0, <11.0.11 >=12.0.0, <16.0.1	1.7.0 1.8.0 7.0.301 8.0.291 11.0.11 16.0.1

Affected products

Oracle Corporation Java SE JDK and JRE

References

oracle.com /security-alerts/cpuapr2021.html
patch, vendor-advisory, advisory
debian.org /security/2021/dsa-4899
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory, advisory
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MAULPCQFLAMBJIS27YLNNX6IHRFJMVP4/
vendor-advisory, web
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MVDY4T5XMSYDQT6RRKPMRCV4MVGS7KXF/
vendor-advisory, web
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/5ACX4JEVYH6H4PSMGMYWTGABPOFPH3TS/
vendor-advisory, web
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CFXOKM2233JVGYDOWW77BN54X3GZTIBK/
vendor-advisory, web
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CG7EWXSO6JUCVHP7R3SOZQ7WPNBOISJH/
vendor-advisory, web
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/UD3JEP4HPLK7MNZHVUMKIJPBP74M3A2V/
vendor-advisory, web
security.gentoo.org /glsa/202209-05
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory, advisory
lists.debian.org /debian-lts-announce/2021/04/msg00021.html
mailing-list, third-party-advisory, advisory
security.netapp.com /advisory/ntap-20210513-0001/
third-party-advisory, advisory
docs.azul.com /core/zulu-openjdk/release-notes/april-2021.html#fixed-common-vulnerabilities-and-exposures
third-party-advisory, advisory
kc.mcafee.com /corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10366
third-party-advisory, advisory
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2021-2161
web

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Updated Java versions.

Summary