CVE-2019-9212: Hessian Incomplete List Of Disallowed Inputs Vulnerability

CRITICAL
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-pfwp-8pq4-g7pv
CVSS 9.8
CWE-502 CWE-184
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2019-9212 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8) incomplete list of disallowed inputs vulnerability (CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data) affecting Hessian libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves incomplete list of disallowed inputs in sofa-hessian. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 4.0.2, 3.3.6.

CVE-2019-9212 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2019-9212
GHSA Identifier GHSA-pfwp-8pq4-g7pv
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.8
CWE Classification CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data
Affected Product Hessian
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 9.8

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2019-9212

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Hessian dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

com.alipay.sofa:hessian fixed: 4.0.2
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.alipay.sofa</groupId>
    <artifactId>hessian</artifactId>
    <version>4.0.2</version>
</dependency>
com.alipay.sofa:hessian fixed: 3.3.6
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.alipay.sofa</groupId>
    <artifactId>hessian</artifactId>
    <version>3.3.6</version>
</dependency>
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.alipay.sofa

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2019-9212, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.alipay.sofa

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Hessian in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 4.0.2), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.alipay.sofa 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-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data, where the product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid. In Hessian, 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

SOFA-Hessian through 4.0.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted serialized Hessian object because blacklisting of com.caucho.naming.QName and com.sun.org.apache.xpath.internal.objects.XString is mishandled, related to Resin Gadget.

CVE-2019-9212 Affected Hessian Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
4.0.23.3.6
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
com.alipay.sofa:hessian
Maven
≥ 4.0.0
< 4.0.2
4.0.2
com.alipay.sofa:hessian
Maven
< 3.3.6
3.3.6

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2019-9212?
CVE-2019-9212 is a security vulnerability in Hessian involving Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs in SOFA-Hessian under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data.
Which Hessian versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 4.0.2, 3.3.6 across affected packages: com.alipay.sofa:hessian.
What version fixes CVE-2019-9212?
Upgrading to 4.0.2, 3.3.6 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is hessian affected?
Yes, com.alipay.sofa:hessian is affected in releases prior to 4.0.2, 3.3.6. Upgrade your dependency to 4.0.2, 3.3.6 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-9212?
CVE-2019-9212 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2019-9212?
CVE-2019-9212 is classified under CWE-502: Deserialization of Untrusted Data (The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2019-9212?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=com.alipay.sofa'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-pfwp-8pq4-g7pv",
  "modified" : "2024-03-21T16:02:59Z",
  "published" : "2019-03-06T17:36:08Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2019-9212" ],
  "summary" : "Incomplete List of Disallowed Inputs in SOFA-Hessian",
  "details" : "SOFA-Hessian through 4.0.2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted serialized Hessian object because blacklisting of com.caucho.naming.QName and com.sun.org.apache.xpath.internal.objects.XString is mishandled, related to Resin Gadget.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "com.alipay.sofa:hessian"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "4.0.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "4.0.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "com.alipay.sofa:hessian"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.3.6"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-9212"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/alipay/sofa-hessian/issues/34"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-pfwp-8pq4-g7pv"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/alipay/sofa-hessian"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-184", "CWE-502" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T21:49:03Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2019-02-27T17:29:00Z"
  }
}