CVE-2021-43297 Dubbo Hessian cause RCE when parse error

What is CVE-2021-43297?

CVE-2021-43297 is a critical unsafe deserialization vulnerability in Apache Dubbo, published on 10 Jan 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A deserialization vulnerability existed in dubbo hessian-lite 3.2.11 and its earlier versions, which could lead to malicious code execution. Most Dubbo users use Hessian2 as the default serialization/deserialization protocol, during Hessian catch unexpected exceptions, Hessian will log out some imformation for users, which may cause remote command execution. This issue affects Apache Dubbo Apache Dubbo 2.6.x versions prior to 2.6.12; Apache Dubbo 2.7.x versions prior to 2.7.15; Apache Dubbo 3.0.x versions prior to 3.0.5.

Weakness: CWE-502

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-43297?

6 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.dubbo:dubbo. It affects 1 product.

Products include Apache Dubbo.

How do I fix CVE-2021-43297?

Upgrade org.apache.dubbo:dubbo to a fixed version for your release line: 2.6.12, 2.7.15 or 3.0.5.

Upgrade, and only deserialise data from trusted sources or with an allow-list of types. More about Unsafe deserialization.

Is CVE-2021-43297 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-43297 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code: 2 proofs of concept on GitHub.

Other vulnerabilities in Apache Dubbo

• CVE-2023-29234 Bypass serialize checks in Apache Dubbo Critical 9.8
• CVE-2023-46279 Apache Dubbo: Bypass deny serialize list check in Apache Dubbo Critical 9.8
• CVE-2021-32824 Regular expression Denial of Service in MooTools Critical 9.8
• CVE-2022-39198 Apache Dubbo Hession Deserialization Vulnerability Gadgets Bypass Critical 9.8
• CVE-2021-36161 Unprotected input value toString cause RCE Critical 9.8

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-vp5x-3v8r-qprw.