Critical severity · published Jul 1, 2024
CVE-2024-36401
Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in evaluating property name expressions in Geoserver
In wildKEV
9.8
CVSS
99.8%
EPSS
Yes
On KEV
Description
GeoServer is an open source server that allows users to share and edit geospatial data. Prior to versions 2.22.6, 2.23.6, 2.24.4, and 2.25.2, multiple OGC request parameters allow Remote Code Execution (RCE) by unauthenticated users through specially crafted input against a default GeoServer installation due to unsafely evaluating property names as XPath expressions.
The GeoTools library API that GeoServer calls evaluates property/attribute names for feature types in a way that unsafely passes them to the commons-jxpath library which can execute arbitrary code when evaluating XPath expressions. This XPath evaluation is intended to be used only by complex feature types (i.e., Application Schema data stores) but is incorrectly being applied to simple feature types as well which makes this vulnerability apply to **ALL** GeoServer instances. No public PoC is provided but this vulnerability has been confirmed to be exploitable through WFS GetFeature, WFS GetPropertyValue, WMS GetMap, WMS GetFeatureInfo, WMS GetLegendGraphic and WPS Execute requests. This vulnerability can lead to executing arbitrary code.
Versions 2.22.6, 2.23.6, 2.24.4, and 2.25.2 contain a patch for the issue. A workaround exists by removing the `gt-complex-x.y.jar` file from the GeoServer where `x.y` is the GeoTools version (e.g., `gt-complex-31.1.jar` if running GeoServer 2.25.1). This will remove the vulnerable code from GeoServer but may break some GeoServer functionality or prevent GeoServer from deploying if the gt-complex module is needed.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)99.8% · higher than 100% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildYes
CISA KEVListed Jul 15, 2024
Federal remediation dueAug 5, 2024
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
GE
geoserver · geoserver
>= 2.23.0, < 2.23.6; >= 2.24.0, < 2.24.4; >= 2.25.0, < 2.25.2; < 2.22.6 · source: vendor, NVD, CISA, KEV
GE
Geotools · Geotools
before 29.6; 30.1 before 30.4; 31.1 before 31.2; 30.0; 30.0; 31.0; +1 more · source: NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-36401
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-36401
CISA KEV catalogue
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/security/advisories/GHSA-6jj6-gm7p-fcvv
x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/geotools/geotools/security/advisories/GHSA-w3pj-wh35-fq8w
x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/geotools/geotools/pull/4797
x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/Warxim/CVE-2022-41852?tab=readme-ov-file#workaround-for-cve-2022-41852
x_refsource_MISC
https://osgeo-org.atlassian.net/browse/GEOT-7587
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