New Apache Struts Vulnerability Allows Attackers to Take Control Over Web Servers

Apache Struts is a free and open-source framework used to build Java web applications.This is not the first remote code execution vulnerability discovered on Apache Struts.

Security Expert from Man Yue Mo from lgtm found a remote code execution vulnerability in Apache Struts. This vulnerability has been assigned with Security Bulletin CVE-2017-9805

Experts found the vulnerability due to unsafe deserialization in Java.In the Last March also an RCE vulnerability reported by Nike Zheng with Struts 2.3.31 & 2.3.5.

Also Read :  ApacheStruts2 Remote Code Execution Vulnerability S2-046

What is Java Deserialization

Java deserialization weakness influences essentially all applications that acknowledge serialized Java objects and gives attackers an approach to increase a complete remote control of an application server.

The vulnerability enables aggressors to obtain total control over the server on which the application is facilitated and make a wide range of destruction.

The vulnerability enables aggressors to obtain total control over the server on which the application is facilitated and make a wide range of destruction.

As indicated by the researcher, the exploit is caused by the way Struts deserializes unsanitized client provided information.

An aggressor could transfer a malicious file and obtain control over an application subsequent to increasing remote code execution rights on the objective’s Struts-based application server.

An aggressor could transfer a malicious file and obtain control over an application subsequent to increasing remote code execution rights on the objective’s Struts-based application server.

Due to the severity of the vulnerability Man Yue he didn’t disclose more details about this vulnerability.He reported the Vulnerability to the vendor on 17 July 2017 and it has been fixed with Struts version 2.5.13 released yesterday.

This new version contains a fix for many security vulnerabilities.

• CVE-2017-9793 – DoS attack is possible when using outdated XStream library with the Struts REST plugin
• CVE-2017-9804 – Possible DoS attack when using URLValidator

Now the version has been published, Server administrators are strongly advised to update their Apache Struts as soon as possible.