CVE-2023-51518

Apache James prior to version 3.7.5 and 3.8.0 exposes a JMX endpoint on localhost subject to pre-authentication deserialisation of untrusted data. Given a deserialisation gadjet, this could be leveraged as part of an exploit chain that could result in privilege escalation. Note that by default JMX endpoint is only bound locally.

We recommend users to:  - Upgrade to a non-vulnerable Apache James version

 - Run Apache James isolated from other processes (docker - dedicated virtual machine)  - If possible turn off JMX

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/wbdm61ch6l0kzjn6nnfmyqlng82qz0or
• https://lists.apache.org/thread/wbdm61ch6l0kzjn6nnfmyqlng82qz0or