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CVE-2023-37895 apache Jackrabbit

Affected softwareapache Jackrabbit
Severity9.8 Critical CVSS 3.1 2 scores
Fixed in2.21.18, 2.20.11
WeaknessDeserialization of untrusted data (CWE-502)
Published25 Jul 2023
Updated17 Jun 2026

Description

Java object deserialization issue in Jackrabbit webapp/standalone on all platforms allows attacker to remotely execute code via RMIVersions up to (including) 2.20.10 (stable branch) and 2.21.17 (unstable branch) use the component "commons-beanutils", which contains a class that can be used for remote code execution over RMI. Users are advised to immediately update to versions 2.20.11 or 2.21.18. Note that earlier stable branches (1.0.x .. 2.18.x) have been EOLd already and do not receive updates anymore. In general, RMI support can expose vulnerabilities by the mere presence of an exploitable class on the classpath. Even if Jackrabbit itself does not contain any code known to be exploitable anymore, adding other components to your server can expose the same type of problem. We therefore recommend to disable RMI access altogether (see further below), and will discuss deprecating RMI support in future Jackrabbit releases. How to check whether RMI support is enabledRMI support can be over an RMI-specific TCP port, and over an HTTP binding. Both are by default enabled in Jackrabbit webapp/standalone. The native RMI protocol by default uses port 1099. To check whether it is enabled, tools like "netstat" can be used to check. RMI-over-HTTP in Jackrabbit by default uses the path "/rmi". So when running standalone on port 8080, check whether an HTTP GET request on localhost:8080/rmi returns 404 (not enabled) or 200 (enabled). Note that the HTTP path may be different when the webapp is deployed in a container as non-root context, in which case the prefix is under the user's control. Turning off RMIFind web.xml (either in JAR/WAR file or in unpacked web application folder), and remove the declaration and the mapping definition for the RemoteBindingServlet:         <servlet>             <servlet-name>RMI</servlet-name>             <servlet-class>org.apache.jackrabbit.servlet.remote.RemoteBindingServlet</servlet-class>         </servlet>         <servlet-mapping>             <servlet-name>RMI</servlet-name>             <url-pattern>/rmi</url-pattern>         </servlet-mapping> Find the bootstrap.properties file (in $REPOSITORY_HOME), and set         rmi.enabled=false     and also remove         rmi.host         rmi.port         rmi.url-pattern  If there is no file named bootstrap.properties in $REPOSITORY_HOME, it is located somewhere in the classpath. In this case, place a copy in $REPOSITORY_HOME and modify it as explained.

Exploitation status

No public exploit

No exploit has been reported in the sources we check. Published 3 years ago.

  • CISA KEV not listed
  • VulnCheck KEV not listed
  • CISA Vulnrichment exploitation: none
  • Indexed PoC none indexed
  • EPSS 3.2% chance in 30 days

Waratek protection

Protected by Waratek

Waratek has a rule that blocks attacks on this vulnerability.

Decided by A vulnerability class already blocked by an ARMR security rule
Finding Protected by Waratek's ARMR deserialization security rule, which blocks this class of attack at the JVM level without a rule written for this CVE specifically. The CVE's weakness is CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data.

How to mitigate CVE-2023-37895

Upgrade apache Jackrabbit to a release that fixes it: 2.21.18 or 2.20.11. Until you can, Waratek RASP blocks exploitation with its deserialization and process rules. It runs inside the Java application, with no code changes.

Waratek RASP Runtime protection for Java applications

CVSS

9.8 CRITICAL v3.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 2 metrics

We show the highest score from the newest CVSS version. Scores from different versions can't be compared, and the first score listed is sometimes a 0.0 placeholder.

VersionScoreBandVectorAssignerType
CVSS 3.1 9.8 CRITICAL CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H NVD Primary published
CVSS 3.1 9.8 CRITICAL CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CISA-ADP Secondary

Affected software and releases

Maven packages

Affected and fixed versions, from OSV.dev
PackageIntroducedFixedLast affected
org.apache.jackrabbit:jackrabbit-webapp 2.21.0 2.21.18 unbounded
org.apache.jackrabbit:jackrabbit-webapp 1.0.0 2.20.11 unbounded
org.apache.jackrabbit:jackrabbit-standalone 2.21.0 2.21.18 unbounded
org.apache.jackrabbit:jackrabbit-standalone 1.0.0 2.20.11 unbounded
org.apache.jackrabbit:jackrabbit-standalone-components 2.21.0 2.21.18 unbounded
org.apache.jackrabbit:jackrabbit-standalone-components 1.0.0 2.20.11 unbounded

Products and versions

4 products, 8 version entries
SourceVendorProductSchemeAffected versions
nvd apache jackrabbit generic ≥ 1.0.0 and < 2.20.11 · ≥ 2.21.0 and < 2.21.18
osv org.apache.jackrabbit jackrabbit-standalone generic ≥ 1.0.0 and < 2.20.11 · ≥ 2.21.0 and < 2.21.18
osv org.apache.jackrabbit jackrabbit-standalone-components generic ≥ 1.0.0 and < 2.20.11 · ≥ 2.21.0 and < 2.21.18
osv org.apache.jackrabbit jackrabbit-webapp generic ≥ 1.0.0 and < 2.20.11 · ≥ 2.21.0 and < 2.21.18

References

URLTags
https://github.com/apache/jackrabbit PACKAGE
https://lists.apache.org/list.html?users@jackrabbit.apache.org WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread/j03b3qdhborc2jrhdc4d765d3jkh8bfw WEB
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Jul/43 WEB
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/07/25/8 WEB

Timeline

Published2023-07-25By the CVE Program.
NVD record modified2026-06-17NVD's own last-modified date for this record.