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Deserialization of Untrusted Data

CVE-2021-27850

High
9.8/10

Summary

A critical unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability was found in all the recent versions of Apache Tapestry. The affected versions include 5.4.5, 5.5.0, 5.6.2 and 5.7.0. The vulnerability I have found is a bypass of the fix for CVE-2019-0195. Recap: Before the fix of CVE-2019-0195 it was possible to download arbitrary class files from the classpath by providing a crafted asset file URL. An attacker was able to download the file `AppModule.class` by requesting the URL `http://localhost:8080/assets/something/services/AppModule.class` which contains a HMAC secret key. The fix for that bug was a blacklist filter that checks if the URL ends with `.class`, `.properties` or `.xml`. Bypass: Unfortunately, the blacklist solution can simply be bypassed by appending a `/` at the end of the URL: `http://localhost:8080/assets/something/services/AppModule.class/` The slash is stripped after the blacklist check and the file `AppModule.class` is loaded into the response. This class usually contains the HMAC secret key which is used to sign serialized Java objects. With the knowledge of that key an attacker can sign a Java gadget chain that leads to RCE (e.g. CommonsBeanUtils1 from ysoserial). Solution for this vulnerability: * For Apache Tapestry 5.4.0 to 5.6.2, upgrade to 5.6.3 or later. * For Apache Tapestry 5.7.0, upgrade to 5.7.1 or later.

  • LOW
  • NETWORK
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • HIGH
  • HIGH

CWE-502 - Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Deserialization of untrusted data vulnerabilities enable an attacker to replace or manipulate a serialized object, replacing it with malicious data. When the object is deserialized at the victim's end the malicious data is able to compromise the victim’s system. The exploit can be devastating, its impact may range from privilege escalation, broken access control, or denial of service attacks to allowing unauthorized access to the application's internal code and logic which can compromise the entire system.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published