How severe is CVE-2021-20681?

CVE-2021-20681 has a CVSS score of 5.4/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-20681?

CVE-2021-20681 affects the following packages: baserproject/basercms (Packagist). Ecosystems affected: Packagist.

How do I fix CVE-2021-20681?

Update baserproject/basercms to 4.4.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-20681 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-20681 in my Packagist dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for baserproject/basercms, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2021-20681 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Is CVE-2021-20681 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2021-20681 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2021-20681?

CVE-2021-20681 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.7%, placing it in the 53th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2021-20681?

CVE-2021-20681 is classified as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2021-20681 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-20681 was published on March 26, 2021 and was last updated on July 8, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐘

🐘 Packagist

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2021-20681 — basercms

MEDIUM

CVE-2021-20681 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in baserproject/basercms. A fix is available for baserproject/basercms — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Cross-site Scripting (XSS) in baserCMS

Also known asGHSA-24p5-x9f9-vvpx

Published

Mar 26, 2021

Updated

Jul 8, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Oct 9, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.7%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs53th percentile — riskier than 53% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2021-20681 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🐘baserproject/basercms

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

Description

Improper neutralization of JavaScript input in the page editing function of baserCMS versions prior to 4.4.5 allows remote authenticated attackers to inject an arbitrary script via unspecified vectors.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐘Packagist	`baserproject/basercms`	all versions	4.4.5`composer require baserproject/basercms:^4.4.5`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

basercmsbasercms

< 4.4.5

range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for baserproject/basercms, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update baserproject/basercms to 4.4.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-20681 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-20681 in your dependencies?

Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

5.4/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

Required

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

Low

Availability

None

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

CWE Classification

CWE-79Cross-site Scripting (XSS)

Weaponization

No known public exploit tooling found.

Timeline

Disclosed

Mar 26, 2021

Last updated

Jul 8, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2021-20681

GHSA-24p5-x9f9-vvpx

References

Advisoryjvn.jp Advisorynvd.nist.gov Fixbasercms.net

Related vulnerabilities

This CVE is medium severity; 8 of 8 other CVEs affecting baserproject/basercms are rated as high or higher (top: critical).

CVE-2026-32734CVE-2026-30880CVE-2026-30878CVE-2026-30940CVE-2025-32957CVE-2026-30879CVE-2026-30877CVE-2026-21861

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedJul 8, 2026