CVE-2022-37021

Apache Geode versions up to 1.12.5, 1.13.4 and 1.14.0 are vulnerable to a deserialization of untrusted data flaw when using JMX over RMI on Java 8. Any user still on Java 8 who wishes to protect against deserialization attacks involving JMX or RMI should upgrade to Apache Geode 1.15 and Java 11. If upgrading to Java 11 is not possible, then upgrade to Apache Geode 1.15 and specify –J=-Dgeode.enableGlobalSerialFilter=true when starting any Locators or Servers. Follow the documentation for details on specifying any user classes that may be serialized/deserialized with the serializable-object-filter configuration option. Using a global serial filter will impact performance.

Weakness

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

Affected Software

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.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/586.html

References

• https://lists.apache.org/thread/qrvhmytsshsk5xcb68pwccw3y6m8o8nr
• https://lists.apache.org/thread/qrvhmytsshsk5xcb68pwccw3y6m8o8nr