Gradle
CVE-2021-32751
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization OS command sanitization, avoid shell exec
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 1 tactic: Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, high complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Avoid passing user input to shell commands. Use language-specific APIs instead of shell execution. Apply strict input validation with allowlists.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as OS Command Injection (CWE-78), which allows attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host. Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation. In versions prior to 7.2, start scripts generated by the application plugin and the gradlew script are both vulnerable to arbitrary code execution when an attacker is able to change environment variables for the user running the script. This may impact those who use gradlew on Unix-like systems or use the scripts generated by Gradle in thieir application on Unix-like systems. For this vulnerability to be exploitable, an attacker needs to be able to set the value of particular environment variables and have those environment variables be seen by the vulnerable scripts. This issue has been patched in Gradle 7.2 by removing the use of eval and requiring the use of the bash shell. There are a few workarounds available. For CI/CD systems using the Gradle build tool, one may ensure that untrusted users are unable to change environment variables for the user that executes gradlew. If one is unable to upgrade to Gradle 7.2, one may generate a new gradlew script with Gradle 7.2 and use it for older versions of Gradle. Fpplications using start scripts generated by Gradle, one may ensure that untrusted users are unable to change environment variables for the user that executes the start script. A vulnerable start script could be manually patched to remove the use of eval or the use of environment variables that affect the application's command-line. If the application is simple enough, one may be able to avoid the use of the start scripts by running the application directly with Java command. Affected products include: Gradle. Version information: prior to 7.2.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation. In versions prior to 7.2, start scripts generated by the application plugin and the gradlew script are both vulnerable to arbitrary code execution when an attacker is able to change environment variables for the user running the script. This may impact those who use gradlew on Unix-like systems or use the scripts generated by Gradle in thieir application on Unix-like systems. For this vulnerability to be exploitable, an attacker needs to be able to set the value of particular environment variables and have those environment variables be seen by the vulnerable scripts. This issue has been patched in Gradle 7.2 by removing the use of eval and requiring the use of the bash shell. There are a few workarounds available. For CI/CD systems using the Gradle build tool, one may ensure that untrusted users are unable to change environment variables for the user that executes gradlew. If one is unable to upgrade to Gradle 7.2, one may generate a new gradlew script with Gradle 7.2 and use it for older versions of Gradle. Fpplications using start scripts generated by Gradle, one may ensure that untrusted users are unable to change environment variables for the user that executes the start script. A vulnerable start script could be manually patched to remove the use of eval or the use of environment variables that affect the application's command-line. If the application is simple enough, one may be able to avoid the use of the start scripts by running the application directly with Java command.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
OS command injection occurs when an application passes unsanitized user input directly into system shell commands.
Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
ObjectSocketWrapper.java in Gradle 2.12 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted serialized objec
The HTTP client in Gradle before 5.6 sends authentication credentials originally destined for the configured host. Rated
In Gradle before version 7.0, on Unix-like systems, the system temporary directory can be created with open permissions
In Gradle from version 5.1 and before version 7.0 there is a vulnerability which can lead to information disclosure and/
In Gradle Enterprise before 2023.1, a remote attacker may be able to gain access to a new installation (in certain insta
The PGP signing plugin in Gradle before 6.0 relies on the SHA-1 algorithm, which might allow an attacker to replace an a
Gradle is a build tool with a focus on build automation and support for multi-language development. Rated critical sever
Gradle Enterprise before 2022.1 allows remote code execution if the installation process did not specify an initial conf
In Gradle Enterprise before 2021.3 (and Enterprise Build Cache Node before 10.0), there is potential cache poisoning and
In Gradle Enterprise before 2018.5.2, Build Cache Nodes would reflect the configured password back when viewing the HTML
In Gradle Enterprise before 2018.5.3, Build Cache Nodes did not store the credentials at rest in an encrypted format. Ra
In Gradle before version 7.0, files created with open permissions in the system temporary directory can allow an attacke
Exploit-DB