GHSA-6jj6-gm7p-fcvv: Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in geoserver
SummaryMultiple 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.DetailsThe 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.PoCNo 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.ImpactThis vulnerability can lead to executing arbitrary code.WorkaroundA 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 by an extension you are using:Mitigation for `geoserver.war` deploy:Stop the application serverUnzip `geoserver.war` into a directoryLocate the file `WEB-INF/lib/gt-complex-x.y.jar` and removeZip the directory into a new `geoserver.war`Restart the application serverMitigation for GeoServer binary:Stop JettyLocate the file `webapps/geoserver/WEB-INF/lib/gt-complex-x.y.jar` and removeRestart JettyThe following extensions and community modules are known to have a direct dependency on `gt-complex` jar and are not expected function properly without it. This is not comprehensive list and additional GeoServer functionality may be dependent on the availability of `gt-complex` jar:Extensions: Application Schema, Catalog Services for the Web, MongoDB Data StoreCommunity Modules: Features-Templating, OGC API Modules, Smart Data Loader, SOLR Data StoreMitigation available for prior releases patching three jars in your existing install:Patched `gt-app-schema`, `gt-complex` and `gt-xsd-core` jars may be downloaded for GeoServer: [2.25.1](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.25.1/geoserver-2.25.1-patches.zip/download), [2.24.3](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.24.3/geoserver-2.24.3-patches.zip/download), [2.24.2](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.24.2/geoserver-2.24.2-patches.zip/download), [2.23.2](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.23.2/geoserver-2.23.2-patches.zip/download), [2.22.2](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.22.2/geoserver-2.22.2-patches.zip/download), [2.21.5](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.21.5/geoserver-2.21.5-patches.zip/download), [2.21.4](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.21.4/geoserver-2.21.4-patches.zip/download),[2.20.7](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.20.7/geoserver-2.20.7-patches.zip/download), [2.20.4](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.20.4/geoserver-2.20.4-patches.zip/download), [2.19.2](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.19.2/geoserver-2.19.2-patches.zip/download), [2.18.0](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.18.0/geoserver-2.18.0-patches.zip/download).As example the 2.25.1 page links to [geoserver-2.25.1-patches.zip](https://sourceforge.net/projects/geoserver/files/GeoServer/2.25.1/geoserver-2.25.1-patches.zip/download) download on source forge.Unzip the `geoserver-x.y.z-patches.zip` which contains three jars that have been patched to configure `commons-jxpath` with an empty function list prior to use. These files are drop-in replacements with identical file names to those they are replacing.Follow the instructions above to locate `WEB-INF/lib` folder and replace the existing `gt-app-schema`, `gt-complex` and `gt-xsd-core` jars with those supplied by the patch.Referenceshttps://github.com/geotools/geotools/security/advisories/GHSA-w3pj-wh35-fq8w
https://osgeo-org.atlassian.net/browse/GEOT-7587
https://github.com/geotools/geotools/pull/4797
https://github.com/Warxim/CVE-2022-41852?tab=readme-ov-file#workaround-for-cve-2022-41852
CVSS v4.0: 9.3
CVSS v3.1: 9.8