`CVE-2023-35042` GeoServer

Affected software	GeoServer
Severity	9.8 Critical CVSS 3.1
Fixed in	`2.18.6`, `2.19.6`, `2.20.4`
Published	12 Jun 2023
Updated	17 Jun 2026

Disputed. The record is tagged disputed: someone contests that the vulnerability exists. We still show our assessment, because the dispute is about whether the vulnerability exists, not whether Waratek can block it.

Description

GeoServer 2, in some configurations, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via java.lang.Runtime.getRuntime().exec in wps:LiteralData within a wps:Execute request, as exploited in the wild in June 2023. NOTE: the vendor states that they are unable to reproduce this in any version.

Exploitation status

Exploited

Real-world exploitation reported by VulnCheck KEV. CISA has not confirmed it.

CISA KEV not listed
VulnCheck KEV listed Exploitation reported in the wild. 3 citations · earliest 2023-06-12.
CISA Vulnrichment exploitation: none
Indexed PoC none indexed
EPSS 45% chance in 30 days A model's forecast, not a report of exploitation. Higher than 99% of all scored CVEs.

VulnCheck KEV

Exploitation evidence from VulnCheck Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (VulnCheck KEV), used under VulnCheck's community terms. View CVE-2023-35042 in VulnCheck (free account).

Evidence	Source	Detail	Date
Reported exploitation	nvd.nist.gov	/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-35042	2023-06-12
Reported exploitation	cve.org	/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-35042	2023-06-12
Reported exploitation	1665891.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net	/hubfs/1665891/Threat%20reports/AquaSecurity_Kinsing_Demystified_Technical_Guide.pdf	2024-05-10

Evidence

Source

Detail

Date

Reported exploitation

nvd.nist.gov

/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-35042

2023-06-12

Reported exploitation

cve.org

/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-35042

2023-06-12

Reported exploitation

1665891.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net

/hubfs/1665891/Threat%20reports/AquaSecurity_Kinsing_Demystified_Technical_Guide.pdf

2024-05-10

Waratek protection

Mitigation candidate

A kind of vulnerability Waratek's rules address, with exploit code published or exploitation reported. No rule exists and none is planned yet. The decision below says what we found to build a rule from.

Protection none
Action unverified
Review automated Inferred
Record disputed disputed

Decided by	The affected package being open source on Maven, so the fix can be read
Finding	This CVE affects an open-source Java library published on Maven Central (Maven packages: org.geoserver:gs-wms, org.geoserver:gs-wfs, org.geoserver:gs-wps), so it is squarely in ARMR's territory and the source needed to understand the defect is public. That makes it a candidate for an ARMR patch rule. No rule exists and none is scheduled: the diff between the affected and fixed versions has not been read, and a closer look may find no hook point ARMR can act on.

Decided by

The affected package being open source on Maven, so the fix can be read

Finding

This CVE affects an open-source Java library published on Maven Central (Maven packages: org.geoserver:gs-wms, org.geoserver:gs-wfs, org.geoserver:gs-wps), so it is squarely in ARMR's territory and the source needed to understand the defect is public. That makes it a candidate for an ARMR patch rule. No rule exists and none is scheduled: the diff between the affected and fixed versions has not been read, and a closer look may find no hook point ARMR can act on.

Affected software and releases

Maven packages

Affected and fixed versions, from OSV.dev

Package Introduced Fixed Last affected

org.geoserver:gs-wms 0 2.18.6 unbounded

org.geoserver:gs-wfs 0 2.18.6 unbounded

org.geoserver:gs-wms 2.19.0 2.19.6 unbounded

org.geoserver:gs-wfs 2.19.0 2.19.6 unbounded

org.geoserver:gs-wms 2.20.0 2.20.4 unbounded

org.geoserver:gs-wfs 2.20.0 2.20.4 unbounded

org.geoserver:gs-wps 0 2.18.6 unbounded

org.geoserver:gs-wps 2.19.0 2.19.6 unbounded

org.geoserver:gs-wps 2.20.0 2.20.4 unbounded

Package	Introduced	Fixed	Last affected
`org.geoserver:gs-wms`	0	`2.18.6`	unbounded
`org.geoserver:gs-wfs`	0	`2.18.6`	unbounded
`org.geoserver:gs-wms`	2.19.0	`2.19.6`	unbounded
`org.geoserver:gs-wfs`	2.19.0	`2.19.6`	unbounded
`org.geoserver:gs-wms`	2.20.0	`2.20.4`	unbounded
`org.geoserver:gs-wfs`	2.20.0	`2.20.4`	unbounded
`org.geoserver:gs-wps`	0	`2.18.6`	unbounded
`org.geoserver:gs-wps`	2.19.0	`2.19.6`	unbounded
`org.geoserver:gs-wps`	2.20.0	`2.20.4`	unbounded

Products and versions

4 products, 10 version entries

Source	Vendor	Product	Scheme	Affected versions
nvd	geoserver	geoserver	generic	≥ 2.0.0
osv	org.geoserver	gs-wfs	generic	＜ 2.18.6 · ≥ 2.19.0 and ＜ 2.19.6 · ≥ 2.20.0 and ＜ 2.20.4
osv	org.geoserver	gs-wms	generic	＜ 2.18.6 · ≥ 2.19.0 and ＜ 2.19.6 · ≥ 2.20.0 and ＜ 2.20.4
osv	org.geoserver	gs-wps	generic	＜ 2.18.6 · ≥ 2.19.0 and ＜ 2.19.6 · ≥ 2.20.0 and ＜ 2.20.4

Source

Vendor

Product

Scheme

Affected versions

nvd

geoserver

generic

≥ 2.0.0

osv

org.geoserver

gs-wfs

generic

＜ 2.18.6 · ≥ 2.19.0 and ＜ 2.19.6 · ≥ 2.20.0 and ＜ 2.20.4

osv

org.geoserver

gs-wms

generic

＜ 2.18.6 · ≥ 2.19.0 and ＜ 2.19.6 · ≥ 2.20.0 and ＜ 2.20.4

osv

org.geoserver

gs-wps

generic

＜ 2.18.6 · ≥ 2.19.0 and ＜ 2.19.6 · ≥ 2.20.0 and ＜ 2.20.4

References

URL	Tags
https://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/services/wps/operations.html#execute	WEB
https://geoserver.org/vulnerability/2022/04/11/geoserver-2-jiffle-jndi-rce.html	WEB
https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver	PACKAGE
https://isc.sans.edu/diary/29936	WEB
https://osgeo-org.atlassian.net/browse/GEOS-10458	WEB

URL

Timeline

Published	2023-06-12	By the CVE Program.
VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence	2023-06-12	Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.
VulnCheck KEV: latest evidence	2024-05-10	Date of the newest report, exploit reference or honeypot sighting in VulnCheck KEV's record.
NVD record modified	2026-06-17	NVD's own last-modified date for this record.

Published

2023-06-12

By the CVE Program.

VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence

2023-06-12

Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.

VulnCheck KEV: latest evidence

2024-05-10

Date of the newest report, exploit reference or honeypot sighting in VulnCheck KEV's record.

NVD record modified

2026-06-17

NVD's own last-modified date for this record.

How VRT decided (17 of 24 rules ran)

17 of 24 rules ran. The rest didn't run because an earlier rule had already settled the CVE.

# Rule Outcome Status Detail

identity: Does this identifier describe a vulnerability at all? the first rule that matches decides

1 rejected no match CVE Program withdrawal of this identifier

scope: Is it a vulnerability Waratek protects? the first rule that matches decides

2 armr-patch-file no match An ARMR patch file on disk for this CVE

3 armr-secure-rule-file no match An ARMR security-rule template on disk for this CVE

4 manual-classification no match A researcher's recorded decision for this specific CVE

5 manual classification no match Manual classification of this CVE in the legacy dataset

6 non-java-upstream no match A root cause in non-Java code: an OS kernel, a C library, or a bundled runtime

7 oracle-component no match The defect being in a component of a tracked product the agent does not reach: JavaFX, the Java SE installer, the JInitiator browser plug-in, the native WebLogic proxy plug-in, or a native part of Oracle Application Server or Collaboration Suite (HTTP Server, Web Cache, Internet Directory, mail and calendar servers). Oracle gives these no CPE of their own and names them only in the description.

8 java-client-side no match Oracle's own risk-matrix note saying the CVE is reached only through untrusted code in the Java sandbox (applets, Web Start) or only through a client installation of Java, so a server running its own trusted code is not exposed

9 osv-maven matched In scope Maven packages: org.geoserver:gs-wms, org.geoserver:gs-wfs, org.geoserver:gs-wps

10 cna-maven-package not reached An affected Maven artifact named by the CNA itself

11 known-cpe-product not reached An NVD CPE naming a product ARMR tracks

12 cna-cpe-product not reached A CPE the CNA published naming a tracked product. Oracle publishes these on advisory day, months before NVD.

13 oracle-advisory-family not reached A tracked product family named in Oracle's own risk matrix. CPE cannot carry a suite name, only a module.

14 cna-named-product not reached A tracked product named in words by the CVE's own CNA, on a record with no CPE yet. Apache and Eclipse publish these on advisory day, before NVD adds CPE data.

15 non-deployable-product not reached The only affected product being a sealed appliance image, where Java runs but no -javaagent can be attached

16 unmatched-product not reached No tracked product matched above, and none present at all

disposition: What do we do about one that is? every rule runs

17 patch-hint no match A reference pointing at the upstream fix: a commit, a PR, a Red Hat bug

18 open-source-maven decided it matched Mitigation candidate Open-source Maven artifact indexed by OSV (Maven packages: org.geoserver:gs-wms, org.geoserver:gs-wfs, org.geoserver:gs-wps). The source is public, which makes an ARMR patch rule a candidate; nothing here establishes that one can be written.

19 poc-derivable skipped An indexed exploit clearing the evidence bar to reverse-engineer, where there is no source to read

20 no-exploit skipped Nothing to build a rule from yet: no published exploit, no CISA record of exploitation and no source-level change to read

21 secure-rule-match no match A vulnerability class already blocked by an ARMR security rule

22 exploited-no-fix-or-poc skipped Somebody exploiting this CVE (a CISA or VulnCheck KEV listing, or a CISA verdict of active exploitation), with no fix, source code or PoC to build a rule from

23 below-action-threshold no match Severity is CRITICAL — only MEDIUM/LOW are deprioritized

24 no-exploit-published no match A CISA or VulnCheck KEV listing, a CISA verdict of active exploitation, a reviewed exploit catalogue, or a GitHub PoC with 5 or more stars carries this CVE — exploit code is in use or published, so it stays a candidate

Products the scope rules checked

The products this CVE's record names, and whether VRT tracks each one. The scope rules decided on these.

Vendor Product Tracked CPE Source

geoserver geoserver not tracked cpe:2.3:a:geoserver:geoserver:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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