CVE-2021-41589

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 2.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2021-10-27 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-732

Description

In Gradle Enterprise before 2021.3 (and Enterprise Build Cache Node before 10.0), there is potential cache poisoning and remote code execution when running the build cache node with its default configuration. This configuration allows anonymous access to the configuration user interface and anonymous write access to the build cache. If access control to the build cache is not changed from the default open configuration, a malicious actor with network access can populate the cache with manipulated entries that may execute malicious code as part of a build process. This applies to the build cache provided with Gradle Enterprise and the separate build cache node service if used. If access control to the user interface is not changed from the default open configuration, a malicious actor can undo build cache access control in order to populate the cache with manipulated entries that may execute malicious code as part of a build process. This does not apply to the build cache provided with Gradle Enterprise, but does apply to the separate build cache node service if used.

Affected products

gradle Build Cache Node: before 10.0 — fixed in 10.0
Gradle Enterprise: before 2021.3 — fixed in 2021.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: gradle Build Cache Node 10.0; Gradle Enterprise 2021.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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