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Deserialization of Untrusted Data

CVE-2021-29485

Severity High
Score 8.8/10

Summary

Ratpack is a toolkit for creating web applications. In versions prior to 1.9.0-rc-1, a malicious attacker can achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) via a maliciously crafted Java deserialization gadget chain leveraged against the Ratpack session store. If one's application does not use Ratpack's session mechanism, it is not vulnerable. Ratpack 1.9.0-rc-1 introduces a strict allow-list mechanism that mitigates this vulnerability when used. Two possible workarounds exist. The simplest mitigation for users of earlier versions is to reduce the likelihood of attackers being able to write to the session data store. Alternatively or additionally, the allow-list mechanism could be manually back ported by providing an alternative implementation of `SessionSerializer` that uses an allow-list.

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

Advisory Timeline

  • Published