CVE-2021-23258
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAuthenticated users with Administrator or Developer roles may execute OS commands by SPEL Expression in Spring beans. SPEL Expression does not have security restrictions, which will cause attackers to execute arbitrary commands remotely (RCE).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThis vulnerability allows authenticated Administrator or Developer role users to achieve remote code execution by injecting unsandboxed SPEL (Spring Expression Language) expressions into Spring beans. The SPEL expressions lack security restrictions, enabling arbitrary OS command execution on the underlying system.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 3.1.0, < 3.1.12CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify the Crafter CMS installationLocate the Crafter CMS installation and determine its version by checking version files, build artifacts, or the admin interface version displayAffected if The installed version is Crafter CMS Crafter Cms and falls within >= 3.1.0 and < 3.1.12
-
Confirm Administrator or Developer role accessVerify that your user account has either Administrator or Developer role privileges within the Crafter CMS systemAffected if Your account possesses Administrator or Developer role permissions, which are required to exploit this vulnerability
-
Identify Spring beans using SPEL expressionsReview custom Spring bean configurations and look for any SPEL expressions (e.g., #{...} syntax) used in bean definitions, particularly those processing user-controlled inputAffected if Spring beans in the application use SPEL expressions without security restrictions such as SimpleEvaluationContext or custom SpelExpressionParser with security checks
-
Check for unsandboxed SPEL parsingExamine the codebase for locations where StandardEvaluationContext is used to parse SPEL expressions, as this provides full access to Spring framework internals and enables OS command executionAffected if StandardEvaluationContext is used instead of restricted evaluation contexts like SimpleEvaluationContext, or no custom security restrictions are implemented on SPEL expression parsing
You are affected if running Crafter CMS version 3.1.0 through 3.1.11, have Administrator or Developer role access, and your Spring beans contain unsandboxed SPEL expressions that process user input.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped3.1.12
Apply Spring Expression Language security restrictions (e.g., using SimpleEvaluationContext instead of StandardEvaluationContext, or implementing a custom SpelExpressionParser with security checks) to all user-controlled SPEL expressions in Spring beans, and apply any vendor-supplied patches.
Crafter CMS 3.1.12 or later
- 1. Back up your current Crafter CMS installation and database before proceeding with any upgrade.
- 2. Download Crafter CMS version 3.1.12 or later from the official Crafter CMS distribution channels.
- 3. Follow the official Crafter CMS upgrade documentation to apply the update to your existing installation.
- 4. After upgrade, verify that SPEL expressions in Spring beans are properly restricted and cannot execute arbitrary OS commands.
- 5. Test that authenticated users with Administrator or Developer roles can no longer achieve RCE through SPEL Expression injection.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-23258 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-23258 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data