CVE-2021-46877 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-770 vulnerability in com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind — see the affected versions and patch details below.
jackson-databind possible Denial of Service if using JDK serialization to serialize JsonNode
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2021-46877.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2021-46877 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 379,842 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind☕com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databindReal-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
jackson-databind 2.10.x through 2.12.x before 2.12.6 and 2.13.x before 2.13.1 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (2 GB transient heap usage per read) in uncommon situations involving JsonNode JDK serialization.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind | ≥ 2.10.0&&< 2.12.6 | 2.12.6com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.12.6 |
| ☕Maven | com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind | ≥ 2.13.0&&< 2.13.1 | 2.13.1com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.13.1 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind to 2.12.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-46877 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2021-46877 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2021-46877. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Migration Toolkit for Runtimes 1 on RHEL 8 | mtr/mtr-web-container-rhel8:1.1-7 | RHSA-2023:3373 |
| MTA-6.2-RHEL-9 | mta/mta-windup-addon-rhel9:6.2.0-11 | RHSA-2023:4627 |
| OCP-Tools-4.12-RHEL-8 | jenkins-0:2.401.1.1686649641-3.el8 | RHSA-2023:3610 |
| OCP-Tools-4.13-RHEL-8 | jenkins-0:2.387.3.1684911776-3.el8 | RHSA-2023:3299 |
| Red Hat AMQ Streams 2.4.0 | see advisory | RHSA-2023:3223 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform | com.fasterxml.jackson.core/jackson-databind:2.12.7.redhat-00003 | RHSA-2023:4509 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 for RHEL 8 | eap7-wildfly-0:7.4.12-3.GA_redhat_00003.1.el8eap | RHSA-2023:4506 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 for RHEL 9 | eap7-wildfly-0:7.4.12-3.GA_redhat_00003.1.el9eap | RHSA-2023:4507 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-46877 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2021-46877 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.