CVE-2024-36401
OSGeo GeoServer GeoTools Eval Injection Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 5 August 2024). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
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 3.1
- 9.8 CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 99.81% probability · 100th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Listed 15 July 2024 · due 5 August 2024
- Weakness
- CWE-95, CWE-94
- Affected
- geoserver/geoserver · geotools/geotools
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
EPSS 99.8% since 30 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
CISA notes
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. This vulnerability affects an open-source component, third-party library, or a protocol used by different products. For more information, please see: https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/security/advisories/GHSA-6jj6-gm7p-fcvv, https://github.com/geotools/geotools/pull/4797 ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-36401
References
- https://github.com/Warxim/CVE-2022-41852?tab=readme-ov-file#workaround-for-cve-2022-41852Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/security/advisories/GHSA-6jj6-gm7p-fcvvMitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/geotools/geotools/pull/4797Issue Tracking, Patch
- https://github.com/geotools/geotools/security/advisories/GHSA-w3pj-wh35-fq8wExploit, Vendor Advisory
- https://osgeo-org.atlassian.net/browse/GEOT-7587Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/Warxim/CVE-2022-41852?tab=readme-ov-file#workaround-for-cve-2022-41852Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/security/advisories/GHSA-6jj6-gm7p-fcvvMitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/geotools/geotools/pull/4797Issue Tracking, Patch
- https://github.com/geotools/geotools/security/advisories/GHSA-w3pj-wh35-fq8wExploit, Vendor Advisory
- https://osgeo-org.atlassian.net/browse/GEOT-7587Vendor Advisory
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/geoserver-rce-cve-2024-36401Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2024-36401US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.