What is CVE-2021-36163?

CVE-2021-36163 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Apache Dubbo, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-09-07.

How severe is CVE-2021-36163?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2021-36163 known to be exploited?

2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deserialization in Apache Dubbo

CVE-2021-36163

In Apache Dubbo, users may choose to use the Hessian protocol. The Hessian protocol is implemented on top of HTTP and passes the body of a POST request directly to a HessianSkeleton: New HessianSkeleton are created without any configuration of the serialization factory and therefore without applying the dubbo properties for applying allowed or blocked type lists. In addition, the generic service is always exposed and therefore attackers do not need to figure out a valid service/method name pair. This is fixed in 2.7.13, 2.6.10.1

Vulnerability class: Insecure Deserialization

EPSS: 0.029 (85.5th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

Apache Dubbo
Apache Software Foundation Dubbo — versions Apache Dubbo 2.7.x, Apache Dubbo 2.6.x

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-502 — Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

security@apache.org (Mailing List, x_refsource_MISC, Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-36163?: CVE-2021-36163 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Apache Dubbo, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-09-07.
How severe is CVE-2021-36163?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2021-36163 known to be exploited?: 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.