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CVE-2016-6521 Gopivotal CVE debrief

CVE-2016-6521 was publicly recorded by NVD on 2017-01-23, following 2016 advisory and issue-tracker discussion. The issue is a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) weakness in Grails console, also referred to as Grails Debug Console and Grails Web Console. If an attacker can induce an authenticated user to submit a crafted request, the console may execute arbitrary Groovy code, which raises the impact from session abuse to potential code execution inside the console context.

Vendor
Gopivotal
Product
CVE-2016-6521
CVSS
HIGH 8.8
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-01-23
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-01-23
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Security, platform, and application teams operating Grails console / Grails Debug Console / Grails Web Console, especially in environments where authenticated users can access the console through a browser. Owners of legacy Grails deployments should also verify whether the component is still present or enabled.

Technical summary

The NVD record classifies this as CWE-352 (CSRF) with CVSS 3.0 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, indicating remote reachability with required user interaction. The attack hinges on a victim who is already authenticated and can be induced to make a request; the vulnerable request path can then execute arbitrary Groovy code. The source corpus also shows some version-data differences between the advisory description and the NVD CPE entries, so deployment-specific version validation is important before deciding remediation.

Defensive priority

High. Treat this as urgent for any live Grails console deployment that is still enabled or reachable by users, because the flaw can combine browser-session abuse with arbitrary Groovy execution.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Inventory every Grails console / Debug Console / Web Console deployment, including test or legacy systems that may share credentials or network access.
  • Confirm the exact packaged version in use and compare it with both the advisory description and the NVD CPE ranges before remediating.
  • Apply the vendor fix or move off affected releases; if the console is not required, disable or remove it.
  • Restrict console access to the smallest possible audience and avoid exposing it broadly to browser-accessible users.
  • Review logs and application activity for unexpected console requests or signs of unauthorized Groovy execution.
  • If patching is delayed, reduce risk by limiting authenticated access paths and enforcing strong session and browser hygiene controls.

Evidence notes

Evidence comes from the official NVD CVE record and linked 2016 Openwall and GitHub issue references. The record describes a CSRF flaw in Grails console that can lead to arbitrary Groovy code execution, and it assigns CWE-352 with a high-impact CVSS 3.0 vector. The advisory text and the CPE version data are not perfectly aligned, so version validation should be part of remediation planning. Public discussion predates NVD publication: the linked references are dated August 2016, while NVD published the CVE record on 2017-01-23.

Official resources

The vulnerability was discussed publicly in August 2016 references, and NVD published the CVE record on 2017-01-23. The record was later modified on 2026-05-13, but that is not the original disclosure date.