CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2016-5003

Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Published: Oct 27, 2017 | Modified: Jan 22, 2024
CVSS 3.x
9.8
CRITICAL
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
7.5 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
7.5 IMPORTANT
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Ubuntu

The Apache XML-RPC (aka ws-xmlrpc) library 3.1.3, as used in Apache Archiva, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted serialized Java object in an ex:serializable element.

Weakness

The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Ws-xmlrpc Apache 3.1.3 (including) 3.1.3 (including)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 RedHat xmlrpc3-0:3.0-4.17.el6_9 *
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat xmlrpc-1:3.1.3-9.el7_5 *
Red Hat Fuse 7.2 RedHat camel *
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 RedHat rh-java-common-xmlrpc-1:3.1.3-8.16.el6 *
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 EUS RedHat rh-java-common-xmlrpc-1:3.1.3-8.16.el6 *
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat rh-java-common-xmlrpc-1:3.1.3-8.16.el7 *
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 EUS RedHat rh-java-common-xmlrpc-1:3.1.3-8.16.el7 *
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 EUS RedHat rh-java-common-xmlrpc-1:3.1.3-8.16.el7 *
Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 EUS RedHat rh-java-common-xmlrpc-1:3.1.3-8.16.el7 *
Red Hat Virtualization 4 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat xmlrpc-1:3.1.3-9.el7_5 *

Extended Description

It is often convenient to serialize objects for communication or to save them for later use. However, deserialized data or code can often be modified without using the provided accessor functions if it does not use cryptography to protect itself. Furthermore, any cryptography would still be client-side security – which is a dangerous security assumption. Data that is untrusted can not be trusted to be well-formed. When developers place no restrictions on “gadget chains,” or series of instances and method invocations that can self-execute during the deserialization process (i.e., before the object is returned to the caller), it is sometimes possible for attackers to leverage them to perform unauthorized actions, like generating a shell.

Potential Mitigations

  • Make fields transient to protect them from deserialization.
  • An attempt to serialize and then deserialize a class containing transient fields will result in NULLs where the transient data should be. This is an excellent way to prevent time, environment-based, or sensitive variables from being carried over and used improperly.

References