CriticalCVE-2017-12149

    Red Hat JBoss Application Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (CVE-2017-12149)

    Published Last modified In CISA KEV since Sources: CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    This vulnerability allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code remotely via specially crafted serialized data processed by the doFilter method in the ReadOnlyAccessFilter of the HTTP Invoker in JBoss Application Server. It is a remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability that requires no authentication and is actively exploited in ransomware campaigns since 2021. All versions of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5.2 are affected. Immediate patching to a secured version is critical to mitigate this severe security risk.

    The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. CISA lists it as used in ransomware campaigns. The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.

    Affected
    • Red Hat JBoss eq 5.0.0..5.0.0
    • Red Hat JBoss eq 5.0.1..5.0.1
    • Red Hat JBoss eq 5.1.0..5.1.0
    • Red Hat JBoss eq 5.1.1..5.1.1
    • Red Hat JBoss eq 5.1.2..5.1.2
    • Red Hat JBoss eq 5.2.0..5.2.0
    • Red Hat JBoss eq 5.2.1..5.2.1
    • Red Hat JBoss eq 5.2.2..5.2.2

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    9.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    9.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: CVE.org

    90.7 %

    EPSS score

    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 99.80

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Critical
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    253.68 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    actively exploited
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    9.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    9.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    90.7 %
    High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    99.80
    Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited
    Published
    In CISA KEV since

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-502

    Response and mitigation

    Why act now?

    Prioritisation rationale

    This is unauthenticated, network-reachable remote code execution with no user interaction, landing directly in the application server's context. Off-the-shelf exploit tooling makes it trivial to weaponise, and it sits among the CVEs most likely to be exploited anywhere. CISA flags known use in ransomware campaigns, and legacy JBoss 5.x/6.x estates are a well-trodden initial-access route into flat internal networks. Typical targets are long-lived line-of-business applications in manufacturing, public administration and healthcare. Treat any reachable instance as critical and any internet-facing one as a potential active incident. Because the platform is out of mainstream support, record migration as a mandatory treatment in your NIS2 risk register rather than an accepted risk.

    1. Runbook step 1

      Immediate response (0-24 h)

      • Find exposed instances: Identify every JBoss AS 5.x / Red Hat JBoss EAP 5.2 instance using your CMDB, vulnerability scanner and external attack-surface tooling. Check whether the invoker is live with curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" http://<host>:8080/invoker/readonly. A 500 indicates an active, vulnerable invoker; a 404 indicates it is disabled.
      • Cut internet exposure now: At the perimeter firewall or load balancer, block access from untrusted networks to 8080/TCP and to any reverse-proxied /invoker/* paths. Do this for "internal-only" instances as well.
      • Patch or start migration: A patch is available from the vendor; look up the version in the Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2017-12149. JBoss EAP 5.x and community JBoss AS 5.x/6.x are outside regular vendor support, so the durable fix is migrating to a supported JBoss EAP or WildFly release.
      • Disable the HTTP Invoker if it is not needed: Remove http-invoker.sar from server/<profile>/deploy/, or strip the ReadOnlyAccessFilter and /invoker/* servlet mappings from the invoker's web.xml. Restart the service and re-test reachability.
      • Compromise assessment: Inspect the deploy directory for unknown .war and .jsp files. Common webshell artefacts include jbossass.jsp and jexws*.war. Also look for new local accounts, scheduled tasks or cron entries, and child processes of the Java process. If anything turns up, isolate the host and invoke your IR process.
      • Rotate secrets: On any suspicion of compromise, rotate every credential stored on the server. This covers datasource passwords in *-ds.xml, JMX/web console credentials and service accounts.

    2. Runbook step 2

      Mitigation layers

      • Network segmentation: Place JBoss servers in a dedicated application segment.
        • Inbound: allow only the reverse proxy to reach 8080/TCP.
        • Management ports (e.g. RMI/JNDI on 1098, 1099, 4444, 4445): restrict to the admin network.
        • Outbound: default-deny internet egress from the server to break reverse shells and payload staging.
      • WAF / reverse proxy: Drop external requests matching ^/invoker/ or ^/(jmx-console|web-console|admin-console)/. Block request bodies containing the Java serialization magic bytes AC ED 00 05 or the Base64 prefix rO0AB.
      • IPS rule (Suricata/Snort): Example shape: alert http any any -> $HTTP_SERVERS any (msg:"CVE-2017-12149 JBoss readonly deserialization"; flow:to_server,established; http.method; content:"POST"; http.uri; content:"/invoker/readonly"; http.request_body; content:"|AC ED 00 05|"; startswith; sid:1000001;). Also make sure the ET/Talos JBoss deserialization signatures are enabled.
      • Endpoint hardening: Run JBoss under an unprivileged service account, never root or SYSTEM. Make the deploy directory read-only for that account at runtime where operations allow. Use AppLocker/WDAC or SELinux to prevent the Java process from spawning shells.
      • Configuration: Remove unused consoles (jmx-console.war, web-console.war) or put them behind authentication. Audit the classpath for gadget-chain libraries such as commons-collections 3.x and upgrade them where possible.

    3. Runbook step 3

      Detection rules

      • Web server / proxy logs: POST requests to /invoker/readonly, /invoker/JMXInvokerServlet or /invoker/EJBInvokerServlet from unexpected sources. SPL: index=web uri_path="/invoker/*" method=POST | stats count by src_ip, uri_path, status.
      • Network telemetry (Zeek/Suricata): HTTP bodies on 8080 with MIME type application/x-java-serialized-object or starting with AC ED 00 05. Correlate with new outbound connections from the JBoss host to unfamiliar external IPs shortly afterwards.
      • EDR / Sysmon process ancestry (EID 1, Windows 4688): java.exe spawning cmd.exe, powershell.exe, certutil.exe or bitsadmin.exe. On Linux, java spawning sh, bash, curl or wget. Sigma shape: ParentImage|endswith: '\java.exe' AND Image|endswith: ['\cmd.exe','\powershell.exe'].
      • File integrity (Sysmon EID 11, auditd -w <jboss>/server/default/deploy -p wa): New .war or .jsp files in the deploy directory outside change windows. KQL: DeviceFileEvents | where FolderPath has @"\deploy\" and FileName endswith ".jsp".
      • Downstream ransomware indicators: Shadow-copy deletion (vssadmin delete shadows), mass file renames, and SMB/RDP lateral movement originating from the JBoss host.

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    In Jboss Application Server as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Application Platform 5.2, it was found that the doFilter method in the ReadOnlyAccessFilter of the HTTP Invoker does not restrict classes for which it performs deserialization and thus allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code via crafted serialized data.

    Source: cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), CISA KEV Catalog, CVE.org (MITRE)

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    redhatjboss_enterprise_application_platform
    • —
    • 5.1.1
    • 5.2.1
    • 5.0.1
    • 5.1.0
    • 5.0.0
    • 5.1.2
    • 5.2.0
    • 5.2.2
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-502Deserialization of Untrusted Data

      Base

      The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-502

    Public exploit references

    Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.

    Public exploit references
    CISA KEV CatalogCISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.govactively exploited
    PoC-in-GitHub (nomi-sec)vulhub-jboss-cve-2017-12149 (opens in a new tab)github.comPoC (publicly reported)reported, not verified

    References & sources

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. NVD analysis modifiedNVD

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Reference typechanged
      Red Hat, Inc.: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591 Types: Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
      Red Hat, Inc.: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591 Types: Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
      Reference typechanged
      CVE: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591 Types: Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
      CVE: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591 Types: Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    2. Record modifiedRed Hat

      Show 15 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1607
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1608
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1486220
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://github.com/gottburgm/Exploits/tree/master/CVE-2017-12149
      Referenceremoved
      http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1607
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1608
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1486220
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://github.com/gottburgm/Exploits/tree/master/CVE-2017-12149
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591 Types: Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1607 Types: Third Party Advisory
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1608 Types: Third Party Advisory
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1486220 Types: Issue Tracking
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://github.com/gottburgm/Exploits/tree/master/CVE-2017-12149 Types: Third Party Advisory
      —

      Source identifier: secalert@redhat.com

    3. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: active, automatable: yes

      Show 6 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Weakness type (CWE)removed
      CWE-502
      —
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-12149
      Referenceremoved
      https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-12149
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-12149 Types: US Government Resource
      —
      SSVC assessmentremoved
      {"id":"CVE-2017-12149","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2022-06-08T00:00:00+00:00"}
      —
      SSVC assessmentadded
      —
      {"id":"CVE-2017-12149","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"active"},{"automatable":"yes"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-08-13T03:55:41.697695Z"}

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    4. Record modifiedCVE Program

      Show 15 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1607
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1608
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1486220
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://github.com/gottburgm/Exploits/tree/master/CVE-2017-12149
      Referenceremoved
      http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1607
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1608
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1486220
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://github.com/gottburgm/Exploits/tree/master/CVE-2017-12149
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100591 Types: Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1607 Types: Third Party Advisory
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1608 Types: Third Party Advisory
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1486220 Types: Issue Tracking
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://github.com/gottburgm/Exploits/tree/master/CVE-2017-12149 Types: Third Party Advisory
      —

      Source identifier: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

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