CVE-2021-39180
No exploitation reported by the sources we read.
- Published2021-08-31
- Fixed in15.5.3 · 15.3.18
- WeaknessCWE-22
Am I affected?
Debian, Ubuntu or Red Hat sometimes backport a fix without changing the upstream version number: such a version reads « to verify », never « affected ».With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.
Description
OpenOLAT is a web-based learning management system (LMS). A path traversal vulnerability exists in versions prior to 15.3.18, 15.5.3, and 16.0.0. Using a specially prepared ZIP file, it is possible to overwrite any file that is writable by the application server user (e.g. the tomcat user). Depending on the configuration this can be limited to files of the OpenOlat user data directory, however, if not properly set up, the attack could also be used to overwrite application server config files, java code or even operating system files. The attack could be used to corrupt or modify any OpenOlat file such as course structures, config files or temporary test data. Those attack would require in-depth knowledge of the installation and thus more theoretical. If the app server configuration allows the execution of jsp files and the path to the context is known, it is also possible to execute java code. If the app server runs with the same user that is used to deploy the OpenOlat code or has write permissions on the OpenOlat code files and the path to the context is know, code injection is possible. The attack requires an OpenOlat user account to upload a ZIP file and trigger the unzip method. It can not be exploited by unregistered users. The problem is fixed in versions 15.3.18, 15.5.3 and 16.0.0. There are no known workarounds aside from upgrading.
Timeline
dates in UTC- 2021-08-3118:15CVE publishedNVD
Observed activity
isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 18:48 UTCBlock these indicators
- Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-39180?format=txt
- CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-39180?format=csv
- TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
- The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.
Versions per branch
NVD| Branch | Affected | Fixed in | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15.x | ≥ 15.4.0, < 15.5.3 | 15.5.3 | NVD |
| 15.3 | < 15.3.18 | 15.3.18 | NVD |
as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.
Fix
- Update Frentix openolat to 15.5.3 · 15.3.18
Advisories and patches
- github.comPatch
- github.comPatch
- github.comPatch
- jira.openolat.orgVendor Advisory
Detection
- Nuclei template
- none so far ProjectDiscovery
- Exploit-DB
- no entry Exploit-DB
- Proof-of-concept repositories
- none listed PoC-in-GitHub
Sources
Technical details
- CVSS v3 Vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Published
- 2021-08-31
- Last Modified
- 2026-06-17
- NVD status
- Modified
Frequently asked questions
What is CVE-2021-39180?
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