CVE-2021-28398

A privileged attacker in GeoNetwork before 3.12.0 and 4.x before 4.0.4 can use the directory harvester before-script to execute arbitrary OS commands remotely on the hosting infrastructure. A User Administrator or Administrator account is required to perform this. This occurs in the runBeforeScript method in harvesters/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/kernel/harvest/harvester/localfilesystem/LocalFilesystemHarvester.java. The earliest affected version is 3.4.0.

Published: 2022-09-05 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-28398 is rated Moderate Risk (50.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.09%). 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-2021-28398

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 2026-06-16 1.05% 1.09% +0.05%
2 2026-06-15 1.12% 1.05% -0.08%
3 2025-09-13 — 1.12% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-28398

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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.
 1.2 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-28398

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-28398

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
osgeo geonetwork >= 3.4.0, < 3.12.0 cpe:2.3:a:osgeo:geonetwork:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
osgeo geonetwork >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.4 cpe:2.3:a:osgeo:geonetwork:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
osgeo geonetwork 4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:osgeo:geonetwork:4.0.0:alpha1:*:*:*:*:*:*
osgeo geonetwork 4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:osgeo:geonetwork:4.0.0:alpha2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-28398

cvelogic Threat Intelligence