GHSA-q8cm-3v62-jj79 · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: maven — Remote code execution in Apache Jackrabbit
Java object deserialization issue in Jackrabbit webapp/standalone on all platforms allows attacker to remotely execute code via RMIVersions up to (including) 2.20.10 (stable branch) and 2.21.17 (unstable branch) use the component "commons-beanutils", which contains a class that can be used for remote code execution over RMI. Users are advised to immediately update to versions 2.20.11 or 2.21.18. Note that earlier stable branches (1.0.x .. 2.18.x) have been EOLd already and do not receive updates anymore. In general, RMI support can expose vulnerabilities by the mere presence of an exploitable class on the classpath. Even if Jackrabbit itself does not contain any code known to be exploitable anymore, adding other components to your server can expose the same type of problem. We therefore recommend to disable RMI access altogether (see further below), and will discuss deprecating RMI support in future Jackrabbit releases. How to check whether RMI support is enabledRMI support can be over an RMI-specific TCP port, and over an HTTP binding. Both are by default enabled in Jackrabbit webapp/standalone. The native RMI protocol by default uses port 1099. To check whether it is enabled, tools like "netstat" can be used to check. RMI-over-HTTP in Jackrabbit by default uses the path "/rmi". So when running standalone on port 8080, check whether an HTTP GET request on localhost:8080/rmi returns 404 (not enabled) or 200 (enabled). Note that the HTTP path may be different when the webapp is deployed in a container as non-root context, in which case the prefix is under the user's control. Turning off RMIFind web.xml (either in JAR/WAR file or in unpacked web application folder), and remove the declaration and the mapping definition for the RemoteBindingServlet: <servlet> <servlet-name>RMI</servlet-name> <servlet-class>org.apache.jackrabbit.servlet.remote.RemoteBindingServlet</servlet-class> </servlet> <servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>RMI</servlet-name> <url-pattern>/rmi</url-pattern> </servlet-mapping> Find the bootstrap.properties file (in $REPOSITORY_HOME), and set rmi.enabled=false and also remove rmi.host rmi.port rmi.url-pattern If there is no file named bootstrap.properties in $REPOSITORY_HOME, it is located somewhere in the classpath. In this case, place a copy in $REPOSITORY_HOME and modify it as explained.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-37895 is rated High Risk (71.9/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 10.01%, 93th 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.
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 | 2026-05-21 | 9.93% | 10.01% | +0.08% |
| 2 | 2026-04-19 | 8.36% | 9.93% | +1.57% |
| 3 | 2026-02-25 | — | 8.36% | — |
Full EPSS history (34 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.8 | 3.1 | CRITICAL |
|
3.9 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| 9.8 | 3.1 | CRITICAL |
|
3.9 | 5.9 | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 |
GHSA-q8cm-3v62-jj79 · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: maven — Remote code execution in Apache Jackrabbit
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2023-37895 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (jackrabbit), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-37895 |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2023-37895 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (jackrabbit), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 6, not-affected 3, ignored 2, released 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-37895 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| apache | jackrabbit | >= 1.0.0, < 2.20.11 | cpe:2.3:a:apache:jackrabbit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| apache | jackrabbit | >= 2.21.0, < 2.21.18 | cpe:2.3:a:apache:jackrabbit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2023/Jul/43 | Broken Link |
| http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/07/25/8 | Mailing List Third Party Advisory |
| https://lists.apache.org/[email protected] | Mailing List Vendor Advisory |
| https://lists.apache.org/thread/j03b3qdhborc2jrhdc4d765d3jkh8bfw | Mailing List Vendor Advisory |