How severe is CVE-2021-41269?

CVE-2021-41269 has a CVSS score of 9.8/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-41269?

CVE-2021-41269 affects the following packages: com.cronutils:cron-utils (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2021-41269?

Update com.cronutils:cron-utils to 9.1.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-41269 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-41269 in my Maven dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate CVE-2021-41269 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.

Is CVE-2021-41269 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2021-41269, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2021-41269?

CVE-2021-41269 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 4.3%, placing it in the 91th 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-2021-41269?

CVE-2021-41269 is classified as Code Injection (CWE-94). 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-2021-41269 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-41269 was published on November 15, 2021 and was last updated on July 9, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

☕

☕ Maven

Not in CISA KEV

CRITICAL severity

CVE-2021-41269 — cron-utils

CRITICALFix: jmrozanec/cron-utils@cfd2880

CVE-2021-41269 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Code Injection vulnerability in com.cronutils:cron-utils. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for com.cronutils:cron-utils — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Critical vulnerability found in cron-utils

Also known asGHSA-p9m8-27x8-rg87

Published

Nov 15, 2021

Updated

Jul 9, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

Exploitation data as of Oct 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

4.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs91th percentile — riskier than 91% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2021-41269 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

☕com.cronutils:cron-utils

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

Impact

A Template Injection was identified in cron-utils enabling attackers to inject arbitrary Java EL expressions, leading to unauthenticated Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability. Versions up to 9.1.2 are susceptible to this vulnerability. Please note, that only projects using the @Cron annotation to validate untrusted Cron expressions are affected.

Patches

The issue was patched and a new version was released. Please upgrade to version 9.1.6.

Workarounds

There are no known workarounds up to this moment.

References

A description of the issue is provided in issue 461

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Open an issue in the cron-utils Github repository

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`com.cronutils:cron-utils`	all versions	9.1.6`com.cronutils:cron-utils:9.1.6`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

cron-utilscron-utils_project

< 9.1.6

range

Exploits & PoCs

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

cron-utils is a Java library to define, parse, validate, migrate crons a…

github.comNVDNov 2021

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.cronutils:cron-utils, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update com.cronutils:cron-utils to 9.1.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-41269 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.

Fixing This On Your OS

If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.

Red HatCritical

Only projects using the @Cron annotation to validate untrusted Cron expressions are affected.

Product	Fixed in	Advisory
Red Hat build of Quarkus 2.2.5	see advisory	RHSA-2022:0589
RHINT Camel-Q 2.2.1	see advisory	RHSA-2022:1013
RHINT Service Registry 2.3.0 GA	`cron-utils`	RHSA-2022:6835

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact A Template Injection was identified in cron-utils enabling attackers to inject arbitrary Java EL expressions, leading to unauthenticated Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability. Versions up to 9.1.2 are susceptible to this vulnerability. Please note, that only projects using the @Cron annotation to validate untrusted Cron expressions are affected. ### Patches The issue was patched and a new version was released. Please upgrade to version 9.1.6. ### Workarounds There are no known workarounds up to this moment. ### References A description of the issue is provided in [issue 461](