CVE-2024-47879: Main OpenRefine's PreviewExpressionCommand, Which Is Eval, Vulnerability
HIGHCVE-2024-47879 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.6) openrefine's previewexpressioncommand, which is eval, vulnerability (CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')) affecting Main libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves openrefine's previewexpressioncommand, which is eval, lacks protection against cross-site request forgery (csrf). Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 3.8.3.
CVE-2024-47879 at a Glance
Security Impact
CVSS: 7.6
The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L).
How to Fix CVE-2024-47879
To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Main dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.
<dependency>
<groupId>org.openrefine</groupId>
<artifactId>main</artifactId>
<version>3.8.3</version>
</dependency>
Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:
mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.openrefine
How to Check if You Are Affected
To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2024-47879, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:
mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.openrefine
Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Main in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 3.8.3), your application is affected.
Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.openrefine command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.
Technical Details
Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection'), where the product constructs all or part of a code segment using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the syntax or behavior of the intended code segment. In Main, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.
Source Advisory Statement
CVE-2024-47879 Affected Main Versions
1 component(s)| Product / Package | Ecosystem | Affected Versions | Fixed Version |
|---|---|---|---|
|
org.openrefine:main
|
Maven |
< 3.8.3
|
3.8.3
|
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2024-47879?
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What version fixes CVE-2024-47879?
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Machine-readable OSV JSON
OSV v1.5 Schema
{
"schema_version" : "1.4.0",
"id" : "GHSA-3jm4-c6qf-jrh3",
"modified" : "2024-12-04T22:18:02Z",
"published" : "2024-10-24T17:58:53Z",
"aliases" : [ "CVE-2024-47879" ],
"summary" : "OpenRefine's PreviewExpressionCommand, which is eval, lacks protection against cross-site request forgery (CSRF)",
"details" : "### Summary\n\nLack of CSRF protection on the `preview-expression` command means that visiting a malicious website could cause an attacker-controlled expression to be executed. The expression can contain arbitrary Clojure or Python code.\n\nThe attacker must know a valid project ID of a project that contains at least one row.\n\n### Details\n\nThe `com.google.refine.commands.expr.PreviewExpressionCommand` class contains the following comment:\n```\n/**\n * The command uses POST but does not actually modify any state so it does not require CSRF.\n */\n```\n\nHowever, this appears to be false (or no longer true). The expression being previewed (executed) can be written in GREL, Python, or Clojure. Since there are no restrictions on what code can be executed, the expression can do anything the user running OpenRefine can do. For instance, the following expressions start a calculator:\n\n```\nclojure:(.exec (Runtime/getRuntime) \"gnome-calculator\")\n```\n\n```\njython:import os;os.system(\"gnome-calculator\")\n```\n\nThe lack of restrictions on expressions is arguably not a problem if the user is typing their own expressions into OpenRefine: they could have just as well typed them into Clojure or Python directly. However, since the `preview-expression` command does not check for a CSRF token, the expression can actually come from a HTML form submitted by a different origin, including arbitrary websites.\n\nIssue #2164 suggested adding CSRF protection to all endpoints, but this endpoint was skipped (and the above comment added) in the associated PR #2182.\n\n### PoC\n\nAn example \"malicious\" page is at https://wandernauta.nl/or/ (of course, actual malicious pages would not wait for the victim to press the submit button).\n\nThe following curl command (substituting the project ID) also demonstrates the issue:\n\n```sh\ncurl -d project=123456789 -d cellIndex=1 -d rowIndices='[0]' -d 'expression=clojure:(.exec (Runtime/getRuntime) \"gnome-calculator\")' http://localhost:3333/command/core/preview-expression/\n```\n\n### Impact\n\nCSRF into remote code execution, provided the attacker knows at least one project ID in the victim's workspace and can convince the victim to open a malicious webpage.",
"severity" : [ {
"type" : "CVSS_V3",
"score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L"
} ],
"affected" : [ {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Maven",
"name" : "org.openrefine:main"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "0"
}, {
"fixed" : "3.8.3"
} ]
} ]
} ],
"references" : [ {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/security/advisories/GHSA-3jm4-c6qf-jrh3"
}, {
"type" : "ADVISORY",
"url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-47879"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/commit/090924ca923489b6c94397cf1f5df7f7f78f0126"
}, {
"type" : "PACKAGE",
"url" : "https://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine"
} ],
"database_specific" : {
"cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-352", "CWE-94" ],
"severity" : "HIGH",
"github_reviewed" : true,
"github_reviewed_at" : "2024-10-24T17:58:53Z",
"nvd_published_at" : "2024-10-24T21:15:12Z"
}
}