CVE-2021-27850
Patch early
EPSS 93.5% — above the 10% action threshold.
Description
A critical unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability was found all recent versions of Apache Tapestry. The affected versions include 5.4.5, 5.5.0, 5.6.2 and 5.7.0. The vulnerability I have found is a bypass of the fix for CVE-2019-0195. Recap: Before the fix of CVE-2019-0195 it was possible to download arbitrary class files from the classpath by providing a crafted asset file URL. An attacker was able to download the file `AppModule.class` by requesting the URL `http://localhost:8080/assets/something/services/AppModule.class` which contains a HMAC secret key. The fix for that bug was a blacklist filter that checks if the URL ends with `.class`, `.properties` or `.xml`. Bypass: Unfortunately, the blacklist solution can simply be bypassed by appending a `/` at the end of the URL: `http://localhost:8080/assets/something/services/AppModule.class/` The slash is stripped after the blacklist check and the file `AppModule.class` is loaded into the response. This class usually contains the HMAC secret key which is used to sign serialized Java objects. With the knowledge of that key an attacker can sign a Java gadget chain that leads to RCE (e.g. CommonsBeanUtils1 from ysoserial). Solution for this vulnerability: * For Apache Tapestry 5.4.0 to 5.6.1, upgrade to 5.6.2 or later. * For Apache Tapestry 5.7.0, upgrade to 5.7.1 or later.
Scoring
| CVSS | 9.8 (CRITICAL, v3.1) |
|---|---|
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| EPSS | 93.47% — more likely to be exploited than 100% of all CVEs |
| Weakness | CWE-200 |
| On CISA KEV | no |
| Public exploit | none known |
| Published | 2021-04-15 |
| Last modified | 2026-06-17 |
Affected (1)
| Vendor | Product |
|---|---|
| apache | tapestry |
References
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/04/15/1
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r237ff7f286bda31682c254550c1ebf92b0ec61329b32fbeb2d1c8751%40%3Cusers.tapestry.apache.org%3E
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210528-0002/
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/04/15/1
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r237ff7f286bda31682c254550c1ebf92b0ec61329b32fbeb2d1c8751%40%3Cusers.tapestry.apache.org%3E
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210528-0002/
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