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Any23Application · Apache

CVE-2021-40146

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-09-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.5 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
A Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability was discovered in the Any23 YAMLExtractor.java file and is known to affect Any23 versions < 2.5. RCE vulnerabilities allow a malicious actor to execute any code of their choice on a remote machine over LAN, WAN, or internet. RCE belongs to the broader class of arbitrary code execution (ACE) vulnerabilities.

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

A Remote Code Execution vulnerability exists in the Any23 library's YAMLExtractor.java component, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by supplying malicious YAML input. This affects Any23 versions prior to 2.5.

MitigationUpgrade Any23 to version 2.5 or later. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, disable or restrict access to the YAMLExtractor component to reduce attack surface.

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
Any23Application
Affected:< 2.5

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Locate Any23 installation
    Search for any23 JAR files in the system (e.g., find / -name '*any23*.jar' 2>/dev/null), check application classpaths for any23 libraries, or inspect Maven/Gradle dependencies (pom.xml, build.gradle) for any23 references
    Affected if Any23 library is found in the environment
  2. Determine installed Any23 version
    Check the version attribute in the any23 JAR manifest, inspect version in pom.xml/gradle dependencies, or run 'java -jar any23-[version].jar --version' if a CLI binary exists
    Affected if Version is present and less than 2.5
  3. Identify YAMLExtractor usage
    Search codebase for imports of org.apache.any23.extractor.rdf.YAMLExtractor or org.apache.any23.yaml, check configuration files for YAML extraction enabled, or review runtime classpath for YAML-related extractor classes
    Affected if YAMLExtractor class is loaded or configured for use
  4. Verify version is in affected range
    Compare the detected version against the affected range: any23 versions prior to 2.5 are vulnerable
    Affected if Installed version is less than 2.5

The environment is affected if Apache Any23 version is less than 2.5 and the YAMLExtractor component is accessible or loaded by the application.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.5 or later
Fixed in 2.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Any23 to version 2.5 or later. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, disable or restrict access to the YAMLExtractor component to reduce attack surface.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apache Any23 version 2.5

  1. 1. Backup your current Any23 installation and any existing data or configurations.
  2. 2. Download Apache Any23 version 2.5 or later from the official Apache repository (https://any23.apache.org/) or Apache Archives.
  3. 3. Replace the existing Any23 installation files with the new version 2.5 files.
  4. 4. Verify that the YAMLExtractor.java component has been updated in the new version.
  5. 5. Test that YAML extraction functionality works correctly with the new version.
  6. 6. Redeploy the updated Any23 instance to your production environment.
  7. 7. Monitor for any errors or regressions following the upgrade.
Caveat Review release notes for Any23 2.5 to check for any API or behavioral changes; minor version upgrades within the 2.x series typically have minimal breaking changes.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Any23 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

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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-2021-40146 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