CVE-2021-38542

Q: How do I fix CVE-2021-38542?

Upgrade james to 3.6.1 or later.

Q: Is CVE-2021-38542 being actively exploited?

Not that we know of. CVE-2021-38542 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 2.3% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 82% of all scored CVEs.

Q: How severe is CVE-2021-38542?

CVE-2021-38542 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.9, rated medium. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.

Q: What does CVE-2021-38542 affect?

Published advisories record a fix for james (NVD). Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.

MEDIUMEPSS 82th pctl

5.9

CVSS v3

NVD

Description

Apache James prior to release 3.6.1 is vulnerable to a buffering attack relying on the use of the STARTTLS command. This can result in Man-in -the-middle command injection attacks, leading potentially to leakage of sensible information.

CWE-77Command Injection CWE-327

How to fix

Remediation Available

jamesNVD

Affected:< 3.6.1Fixed in:3.6.1CVE-2021-38542derived from NVD

TridentStack Control can deploy fixes like this automatically across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet. See how it works

Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.

CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorNetwork

Attack ComplexityHigh

Privileges RequiredNone

User InteractionNone

ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityNone

AvailabilityNone

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Exploit Intelligence

2.35%probability of exploitation in 30 days

82ndpercentile

Elevated risk: more likely to be exploited than 82% of all known CVEs.

References

Third-Party Advisory3

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-77 (Command Injection) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVE	Severity	CVSS	EPSS	Exploited	Fix
CVE-2024-3400	Critical	10.0	100%	KEV + Ransom	-
CVE-2024-21887	Critical	9.1	100%	KEV + Ransom	-
CVE-2023-1671	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2023-1389	High	8.8	100%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2021-1498	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2012-1823	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix

Common questions

How do I fix CVE-2021-38542?

Upgrade james to 3.6.1 or later.

Is CVE-2021-38542 being actively exploited?

Not that we know of. CVE-2021-38542 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 2.3% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 82% of all scored CVEs.

How severe is CVE-2021-38542?

CVE-2021-38542 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.9, rated medium. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.

What does CVE-2021-38542 affect?

Published advisories record a fix for james (NVD). Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.

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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2024-11-21.