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Fencer Intel
critical 9.1

CVE-2021-40525 json

Sieve file storage vulnerable to path traversal attacks

published 4y ago modified last mo. also GHSA-c38m-7h53-g9v4 , EUVD-2022-0552

cvss
9.1
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
3.8%
EPSS 3.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 90%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Apache James ManagedSieve implementation alongside with the file storage for sieve scripts is vulnerable to path traversal, allowing reading and writing any file. This vulnerability had been patched in Apache James 3.6.1 and higher. We recommend the upgrade. Distributed and Cassandra based products are also not impacted.

Patch / fix

  • maven org.apache.james:james-server 3.6.1
  • apache james 3.6.2

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Exploit prediction

3.83% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 90% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD 2.0 6.4 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N
GitHub 3.1 9.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
maven org.apache.james:james-server
<3.6.1
3.6.1

Affected products

  • Apache Software Foundation Apache James

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.