CVE-2024-36401

9.8 CRITICAL CISA KEV - Actively Exploited
Published: July 01, 2024 Modified: October 24, 2025

Description

GeoServer is an open source server that allows users to share and edit geospatial data. Prior to versions 2.22.6, 2.23.6, 2.24.4, and 2.25.2, multiple OGC request parameters allow Remote Code Execution (RCE) by unauthenticated users through specially crafted input against a default GeoServer installation due to unsafely evaluating property names as XPath expressions. The GeoTools library API that GeoServer calls evaluates property/attribute names for feature types in a way that unsafely passes them to the commons-jxpath library which can execute arbitrary code when evaluating XPath expressions. This XPath evaluation is intended to be used only by complex feature types (i.e., Application Schema data stores) but is incorrectly being applied to simple feature types as well which makes this vulnerability apply to **ALL** GeoServer instances. No public PoC is provided but this vulnerability has been confirmed to be exploitable through WFS GetFeature, WFS GetPropertyValue, WMS GetMap, WMS GetFeatureInfo, WMS GetLegendGraphic and WPS Execute requests. This vulnerability can lead to executing arbitrary code. Versions 2.22.6, 2.23.6, 2.24.4, and 2.25.2 contain a patch for the issue. A workaround exists by removing the `gt-complex-x.y.jar` file from the GeoServer where `x.y` is the GeoTools version (e.g., `gt-complex-31.1.jar` if running GeoServer 2.25.1). This will remove the vulnerable code from GeoServer but may break some GeoServer functionality or prevent GeoServer from deploying if the gt-complex module is needed.

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CVSS v3.x Details

0.0 Low Medium High Critical 10.0
Vector String
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Patch Vendor Advisory Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/Warxim/CVE-2022-41852?tab=readme-ov-file#workaround-for-cve-2022-41852
Source: security-advisories@github.com
Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/security/advisories/GHSA-6jj6-gm7p-fcvv
Source: security-advisories@github.com
Mitigation Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/geotools/geotools/pull/4797
Source: security-advisories@github.com
Issue Tracking Patch
https://github.com/geotools/geotools/security/advisories/GHSA-w3pj-wh35-fq8w
Source: security-advisories@github.com
Exploit Vendor Advisory
https://osgeo-org.atlassian.net/browse/GEOT-7587
Source: security-advisories@github.com
Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/Warxim/CVE-2022-41852?tab=readme-ov-file#workaround-for-cve-2022-41852
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/security/advisories/GHSA-6jj6-gm7p-fcvv
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Mitigation Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/geotools/geotools/pull/4797
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Issue Tracking Patch
https://github.com/geotools/geotools/security/advisories/GHSA-w3pj-wh35-fq8w
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Exploit Vendor Advisory
https://osgeo-org.atlassian.net/browse/GEOT-7587
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Vendor Advisory
https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/geoserver-rce-cve-2024-36401
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2024-36401
Source: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
US Government Resource

12 reference(s) from NVD

Quick Stats

CVSS v3 Score
9.8 / 10.0
EPSS (Exploit Probability)
94.4%
100th percentile
Exploitation Status
Actively Exploited
Remediation due: 2024-08-05

Weaknesses (CWE)

Affected Vendors

geoserver geotools