CVE-2021-21696

Jenkins 2.318 and earlier, LTS 2.303.2 and earlier does not limit agent read/write access to the libs/ directory inside build directories when using the FilePath APIs, allowing attackers in control of agent processes to replace the code of a trusted library with a modified variant. This results in unsandboxed code execution in the Jenkins controller process.

Published: 2021-11-04 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-21696 is rated High Risk (69/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.32%). EPSS rose +1.37% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2021-21696

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 0.95% 2.32% +1.37%
2 2025-12-28 1.40% 0.95% -0.45%
3 2025-12-27 — 1.40% —

Full EPSS history (35 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-21696

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-21696

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-21696

GHSA-c5r9-rx53-q3gf · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Agent-to-controller access control allowed writing to sensitive directory used by Jenkins Pipeline: Shared Groovy Libraries Plugin

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-21696

vendor priority summary link
alpine critical CVE-2021-21696: 1 source package rows (jenkins); 8 state rows across 2 repos (3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 8. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-21696
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-21696

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-21696

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
jenkins jenkins <= 2.303.2 cpe:2.3:a:jenkins:jenkins:*:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
jenkins jenkins <= 2.318 cpe:2.3:a:jenkins:jenkins:*:*:*:*:-:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-21696

cvelogic Threat Intelligence