Reference page — cumulative record through Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.

CVE-2021-29428

CVE-2021-29428HIGH

gradle gradle — Local privilege escalation through system temporary directory

  AV  AC  PR  UI  S  C  I  A   CVSS    EPSS   %ile   KEV
   L   L   L   N  U  H  H  H    7.8   .0054   44.3     —

AFFECTED
  Product  Versions  Fixed
  gradle   < 7.0 –   —

TIMELINE
  Mar 30  Reserved by GitHub_M
  Apr 13  Published (CNA: GitHub_M)
  Oct 8   EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2021-29428 (gradle). Public exploit reference added.
  Oct 8   RESCORED — CVE-2021-29428 (gradle). CVSS 8.8 → 7.8 (NVD).

CWE-378, CWE-379 · CNA: GitHub_M · CVSS v3.1 · 4 references · NVD status: Modified

Description

In Gradle before version 7.0, on Unix-like systems, the system temporary directory can be created with open permissions that allow multiple users to create and delete files within it. Gradle builds could be vulnerable to a local privilege escalation from an attacker quickly deleting and recreating files in the system temporary directory. This vulnerability impacted builds using precompiled script plugins written in Kotlin DSL and tests for Gradle plugins written using ProjectBuilder or TestKit. If you are on Windows or modern versions of macOS, you are not vulnerable. If you are on a Unix-like operating system with the "sticky" bit set on your system temporary directory, you are not vulnerable. The problem has been patched and released with Gradle 7.0. As a workaround, on Unix-like operating systems, ensure that the "sticky" bit is set. This only allows the original user (or root) to delete a file. If you are unable to change the permissions of the system temporary directory, you can move the Java temporary directory by setting the System Property `java.io.tmpdir`. The new path needs to limit permissions to the build user only. For additional details refer to the referenced GitHub Security Advisory.

Lifecycle

Complete event history — 4 events, chronological
Date	Event	Detail
March 30, 2021	Reserved	Reserved by GitHub_M
April 13, 2021	Published	Published (CNA: GitHub_M)
October 8, 2026	EXPLOIT PUBLISHED	EXPLOIT PUBLISHED — CVE-2021-29428 (gradle). Public exploit reference added.
October 8, 2026	RESCORED	RESCORED — CVE-2021-29428 (gradle). CVSS 8.8 → 7.8 (NVD).

Affected

Affected products and packages — 1 row
Vendor	Product / Package	Ecosystem	Version introduced	Fixed
gradle	gradle	—	< 7.0	—

Weaknesses

CWE-378 · CWE-379

References (4)

https://docs.gradle.org/7.0/release-notes.html#security-advisories [Release Notes, Vendor Advisory]
https://github.com/gradle/gradle/pull/15240 [Patch, Third Party Advisory]
https://github.com/gradle/gradle/pull/15654 [Patch, Third Party Advisory]
https://github.com/gradle/gradle/security/advisories/GHSA-89qm-pxvm-p336 [Exploit, Third Party Advisory]

Authoritative record: CVE-2021-29428 at cve.org

Vendors: gradle

Weaknesses: CWE-378 · CWE-379

About this page

This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2021-29428 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.