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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2021-44521

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2022-02-11
  • Fixed in4.0.2 · 3.11.12 · 3.0.26
  • WeaknessCWE-732 · CWE-94

Am I 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

When running Apache Cassandra with the following configuration: enable_user_defined_functions: true enable_scripted_user_defined_functions: true enable_user_defined_functions_threads: false it is possible for an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the host. The attacker would need to have enough permissions to create user defined functions in the cluster to be able to exploit this. Note that this configuration is documented as unsafe, and will continue to be considered unsafe after this CVE.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2022-02-1113:15CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-03 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-44521?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2021-44521?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD · OSV
Apache cassandra
BranchAffectedFixed in
4.0≥ 4.0.0, < 4.0.24.0.2
3.11≥ 3.11.0, < 3.11.123.11.12
3.0≥ 3.0.0, < 3.0.263.0.26
3.0< 3.0.263.0.26

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • apache-druidMinimOSall versions · fixed in 0and 1 other package
  • druidWolfiall versions · fixed in 35.0.1-r1
  • druidChainguardall versions · fixed in 35.0.1-r1
  • org.apache.cassandra:cassandra-allEcho:Mavenall versions · fixed in 3.0.26

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2021-44521 Red Hat Product Security26 known affected

    cassandra: RCE for scripted UDFs

    cassandra as a component of Red Hat Fuse 7 · cassandra as a component of Red Hat JBoss Data Grid 7 · cassandra as a component of Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6 · +23 more

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Update Apache cassandra to 4.0.2 · 3.11.12 · 3.0.26
  2. No fix available, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2021-44521 · 1 productFix deferred
  3. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2021-44521 · 21 productsOut of support scope
  4. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2021-44521 · 4 productsWill not fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-03 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
available
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
2 repositories, unverifiedWoodenKlaas/CVE-2021-44521Yeyvo/poc-CVE-2021-44521
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2022-02-11
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-8ffc-79xg-29w8

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-44521?

When running Apache Cassandra with the following configuration: enable_user_defined_functions: true enable_scripted_user_defined_functions: true enable_user_defined_functions_threads: false it is possible for an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the host. The attacker would need to have enough permissions to create user defined functions in the cluster to be able to exploit this. Note that this configuration is documented as unsafe, and will continue to be considered unsafe after this CVE.

Is CVE-2021-44521 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2021-44521 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 58.9% on 2026-11-03, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2021-44521?

CVE-2021-44521 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.1 (CRITICAL severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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Sources for this record