CVE-2021-28490
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 · uneditedIn OWASP CSRFGuard through 3.1.0, CSRF can occur because the CSRF cookie may be retrieved by using only a session token.
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 confidenceIn OWASP CSRFGuard through 3.1.0, the CSRF protection cookie can be obtained using only a valid session token, breaking the expected separation between session authentication and CSRF token generation. This allows an attacker with access to a session token to retrieve the corresponding CSRF token, bypassing the CSRF protection mechanism.
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= 4.0CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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.
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Identify OWASP CSRFGuard presenceSearch for csrfguard JAR files in your lib/application directories, or check your dependency management files (Maven pom.xml, Gradle build.gradle, or similar) for the owasp-csrfguard artifactAffected if OWASP CSRFGuard library is found in the application dependencies or classpath
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Determine installed CSRFGuard versionCheck the JAR file name for version (e.g., csrfguard-3.1.0.jar or csrfguard-4.0.jar), or inspect the MANIFEST.MF file inside the JAR, or look at the version in your dependency management fileAffected if The version is 3.1.0 or earlier, or exactly version 4.0
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Review CSRF token generation configurationLocate the CSRFGuard configuration file (typically csrfguard.properties, csrfguard.xml, or csrfguard-config.xml in your WEB-INF or config directory) and check the token.validation parameter and how tokens are generatedAffected if CSRF tokens are generated or validated solely based on session ID correlation without additional server-side validation
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Verify token isolation from sessionExamine your application code or CSRFGuard configuration to determine if the CSRF token is cryptographically independent from the session token or if it can be derived using only a valid session IDAffected if The CSRF token is derived from or directly correlated with the session ID without cryptographic independence
You are affected if OWASP CSRFGuard version 3.1.0 or earlier (or version 4.0) is in use and the CSRF token can be obtained or derived using only a valid session token.
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 · scopedUpgrade to a version beyond 3.1.0 where the CSRF token is properly decoupled from session tokens, or implement additional server-side CSRF token validation beyond session-based correlation.
OWASP CSRFGuard 3.1.1 or later (or 4.1+ if using the 4.x branch)
- 1. Identify the current version of OWASP CSRFGuard in use by checking project dependencies (Maven pom.xml, Gradle build.gradle, or library JAR files)
- 2. Review the OWASP CSRFGuard project releases on GitHub (github.com/OWASP/CsrfGuard) to identify the fixed version for this CVE
- 3. Update the dependency version in your build configuration to the fixed release (typically a patch version increment such as 3.1.1 or later, or 4.1+ if using the 4.x branch)
- 4. Rebuild and test the application to ensure CSRF protection functions correctly with the new version
- 5. Deploy the updated application to production
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-28490 — 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-2021-28490 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
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- 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