When an application with unsupported Codehaus versions of Groovy from 1.7.0 to 2.4.3, Apache Groovy 2.4.4 to 2.4.7 on classpath uses standard Java serialization mechanisms, e.g. to communicate between servers or to store local data, it was possible for an attacker to bake a special serialized object that will execute code directly when deserialized. All applications which rely on serialization and do not isolate the code which deserializes objects were subject to this vulnerability.
The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groovy | Apache | 1.7.0 (including) | 2.4.3 (including) |
| Groovy | Apache | 2.4.4 (including) | 2.4.7 (including) |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | RedHat | groovy-0:1.8.9-8.el7_4 | * |
| Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6.3 | RedHat | * | |
| Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6.3 | RedHat | groovy | * |
| Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6.3 | RedHat | * | |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | RedHat | rh-maven33-groovy-0:1.8.9-7.19.el6 | * |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 EUS | RedHat | rh-maven33-groovy-0:1.8.9-7.19.el6 | * |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | RedHat | rh-maven33-groovy-0:1.8.9-7.19.el7 | * |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 EUS | RedHat | rh-maven33-groovy-0:1.8.9-7.19.el7 | * |
| Groovy | Ubuntu | esm-apps/xenial | * |
| Groovy | Ubuntu | precise | * |
| Groovy | Ubuntu | trusty | * |
| Groovy | Ubuntu | upstream | * |
| Groovy | Ubuntu | xenial | * |
| Groovy | Ubuntu | yakkety | * |
| Groovy2 | Ubuntu | esm-apps/xenial | * |
| Groovy2 | Ubuntu | xenial | * |
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.