CVE-2022-41678 | Apache ActiveMQ: Insufficient API restrictions on Jolokia allow authenticated users to perform RCE

Once an user is authenticated on Jolokia, he can potentially trigger arbitrary code execution.  In details, in ActiveMQ configurations, jetty allows org.jolokia.http.AgentServlet to handler request to /api/jolokia org.jolokia.http.HttpRequestHandler#handlePostRequest is able to create JmxRequest through JSONObject. And calls to org.jolokia.http.HttpRequestHandler#executeRequest. Into deeper calling stacks, org.jolokia.handler.ExecHandler#doHandleRequest can be invoked through refection. This could lead to RCE through via various mbeans. One example is unrestricted deserialization in jdk.management.jfr.FlightRecorderMXBeanImpl which exists on Java version above 11. 1 Call newRecording. 2 Call setConfiguration. And a webshell data hides in it. 3 Call startRecording. 4 Call copyTo method. The webshell will be written to a .jsp file. The mitigation is to restrict (by default) the actions authorized on Jolokia, or disable Jolokia. A more restrictive Jolokia configuration has been defined in default ActiveMQ distribution. We encourage users to upgrade to ActiveMQ distributions version including updated Jolokia configuration: 5.16.6, 5.17.4, 5.18.0, 6.0.0.

Published: 2023-11-28 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-41678 is rated High Risk (70.3/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 93.00%, 100th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-41678

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-25 92.81% 93.00% +0.19%
2 2026-05-22 93.14% 92.81% -0.33%
3 2026-05-07 93.14%

Full EPSS history (34 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-41678

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-41678

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2022-41678

GHSA-53v4-42fg-g287 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Apache ActiveMQ Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-41678

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2022-41678 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (activemq), 4 status rows across 4 suites (bookworm, bullseye, sid, trixie): resolved 4. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-41678
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-41678
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-41678 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (activemq), 11 status rows across 11 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 5, ignored 3, not-affected 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-41678

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-41678

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache activemq < 5.16.6 cpe:2.3:a:apache:activemq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache activemq >= 5.17.0, < 5.17.4 cpe:2.3:a:apache:activemq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-41678

cvelogic Threat Intelligence