CVE-2021-21266 | XXE vulnerability in OpenHAB

openHAB is a vendor and technology agnostic open source automation software for your home. In openHAB before versions 2.5.12 and 3.0.1 the XML external entity (XXE) attack allows attackers in the same network as the openHAB instance to retrieve internal information like the content of files from the file system. Responses to SSDP requests can be especially malicious. All add-ons that use SAX or JAXB parsing of externally received XML are potentially subject to this kind of attack. In openHAB, the following add-ons are potentially impacted: AvmFritz, BoseSoundtouch, DenonMarantz, DLinkSmarthome, Enigma2, FmiWeather, FSInternetRadio, Gce, Homematic, HPPrinter, IHC, Insteon, Onkyo, Roku, SamsungTV, Sonos, Roku, Tellstick, TR064, UPnPControl, Vitotronic, Wemo, YamahaReceiver and XPath Tranformation. The vulnerabilities have been fixed in versions 2.5.12 and 3.0.1 by a more strict configuration of the used XML parser.

Published: 2021-02-01 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-21266 is rated Moderate Risk (47.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.10%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-21266

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.36% 1.10% +0.74%
2 2025-12-28 0.25% 0.36% +0.11%
3 2025-12-27 — 0.25% —

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-21266

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.1 2.7 [email protected]
5.0 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.1 1.4 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-21266

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-21266

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openhab openhab < 2.5.12 cpe:2.3:a:openhab:openhab:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openhab openhab 3.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:openhab:openhab:3.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-21266

cvelogic Threat Intelligence