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CISA KEV · ACTIVELY EXPLOITED
CRITICAL severity

CVE-2013-2251 — struts2-core

CRITICALFix: apache/struts@3cfe34f

CVE-2013-2251 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-74 vulnerability in org.apache.struts:struts2-core. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-25) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. A fix is available for org.apache.struts:struts2-core — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Code injection in Apache Struts

Published
Updated
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
7 known
Exploitation data as of Oct 22, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

  • Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-03-25. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-04-15.
  • CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
  • A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2013-2251.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
100.0%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Very High Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs100th percentile — riskier than 100% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
92.6%95.1%97.5%100.0%94.3%100.0%Apr 26Aug 26Oct 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2013-2251 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 394,415 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
☕org.apache.struts:struts2-core

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

The Struts 2 DefaultActionMapper supports a method for short-circuit navigation state changes by prefixing parameters with "action:" or "redirect:", followed by a desired navigational target expression. This mechanism was intended to help with attaching navigational information to buttons within forms.

In Struts 2 before 2.3.15.1 the information following "action:", "redirect:" or "redirectAction:" is not properly sanitized. Since said information will be evaluated as OGNL expression against the value stack, this introduces the possibility to inject server side code.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
☕Mavenorg.apache.struts:struts2-coreall versions2.3.15.1org.apache.struts:struts2-core:2.3.15.1

Affected Products

4 products · 9 configurations
Application
archivaapache
≥ 1.3 && < 1.3.8
2 versions
1.21.2.2
Application
strutsapache
≥ 2.0.0 && ≤ 2.3.15
range
Application
interstage business process manager analyticsfujitsu
2 versions
12.012.1
Application
siebel apps - e-billingoracle
3 versions
6.16.1.16.2
Exploits & PoCs
7

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-44583webappsmultiple✓ Verified

Apache Struts2 2.0.0 < 2.3.15 - Prefixed Parameters OGNL Injection

by Takeshi Terada · Jan 14, 2014

Exploit-DB Source
EDB-27135remotemultiple✓ Verified

Apache Struts 2 - DefaultActionMapper Prefixes OGNL Code Execution (Metasploit)

by Metasploit · Jul 27, 2013

Exploit-DB Source

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.struts:struts2-core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update org.apache.struts:struts2-core to 2.3.15.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2013-2251 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How to detect CVE-2013-2251

A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:

nuclei -id cve-2013-2251 -u https://target
Template
Apache Struts 2 - DefaultActionMapper Prefixes OGNL Code Execution
Severity
critical
Impact
This vulnerability can lead to remote code execution, allowing attackers to take control of the affected system.
Remediation
Developers should immediately upgrade to Struts 2.3.15.1 or later.

Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (exploitation, dwisiswant0, alex), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Struts 2 DefaultActionMapper supports a method for short-circuit navigation state changes by prefixing parameters with "action:" or "redirect:", followed by a desired navigational target expression. This mechanism was intended to help with attaching navigational information to buttons within forms. In Struts 2 before 2.3.15.1 the information following "action:", "redirect:" or "redirectAction:" is not properly sanitized. Since said information will be evaluated as OGNL expression against the value stack, this introduces the possibility to inject server side code.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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Actively Exploited: CVE-2013-2251: struts2-core (Critical 9.8)