dbcve.org
Intellij IdeaApplication · Jetbrains

CVE-2021-25758

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-02-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2020.3 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 · unedited
In JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA before 2020.3, potentially insecure deserialization of the workspace model could lead to local code execution.

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 · moderate confidence

Insecure deserialization in IntelliJ IDEA's workspace model allows local code execution. The vulnerability exists in versions before 2020.3 and could be exploited if a malicious or tampered workspace file is loaded.

MitigationUpgrade IntelliJ IDEA to version 2020.3 or later to patch the deserialization vulnerability.

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
Intellij IdeaApplication
Affected:< 2020.3

CVSS 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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check IntelliJ IDEA installed version
    Open IntelliJ IDEA, then go to Help > About (on Windows/Linux) or IntelliJ IDEA > About (on macOS). The version number is displayed in the dialog that appears.
    Affected if The version shown is any release earlier than 2020.3 (for example, 2020.2, 2020.1, 2019.x, or earlier).
  2. Verify version from installation directory
    Navigate to the IntelliJ IDEA installation folder. On Windows this is typically C:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA. Check the install4j folder or any version.txt file for the exact version number.
    Affected if The version extracted from installation files is before 2020.3.
  3. Identify workspace file location
    Locate .idea folder in your project directories. This folder contains workspace.xml and other configuration files that store the workspace model.
    Affected if You actively use IntelliJ IDEA projects with .idea folders containing workspace.xml files, which are loaded by the IDE on startup.

You are affected if IntelliJ IDEA version is below 2020.3 and you open projects with workspace files, as the insecure deserialization occurs when loading the workspace model from these files.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2020.3 or later
Fixed in 2020.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade IntelliJ IDEA to version 2020.3 or later to patch the deserialization vulnerability.

Fix this in Intellij Idea Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-25758 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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