# CVE-2016-8648: Deserialization in Karaf

> Attackers can execute remote code on JBoss Fuse and A-MQ servers by sending malicious serialized objects to JMX MBeans.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 1 Aug 2018
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rcmq-ww8v-3mxm

## What is CVE-2016-8648?

CVE-2016-8648 is a high-severity unsafe deserialization vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Karaf, published on 1 Aug 2018. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

It was found that the Karaf container used by Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6.x, and Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6.x, deserializes objects passed to MBeans via JMX operations. An attacker could use this flaw to execute remote code on the server as the user running the Java Virtual Machine if the target MBean contain deserialization gadgets in its classpath.

Weakness: CWE-502 (Deserialization of Untrusted Data)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-8648?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Redhat Jboss A-Mq, Redhat Jboss Fuse.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-8648?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-8648 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-8648 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-8648 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Apache Software Foundation Karaf

- [CVE-2020-14379](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14379/): XML external entity in Red Hat AMQ (medium 5.6)
- [CVE-2023-4066](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4066/): Operator: passwords defined in secrets shown in statefulset yaml (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2023-4065](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4065/): Operator: plaintext password in operator log (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2015-5181](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5181/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (medium 5.4)
- [CVE-2016-8653](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8653/): Deserialization in Fuse (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-8648 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-8648 is a high-severity unsafe deserialization vulnerability in Apache Software Foundation Karaf, published on 1 Aug 2018. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-8648 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Apache Software Foundation Karaf. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8648/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8648/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-8648
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-8648
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-8648

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8648/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.