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Intelligence for Africa and the Gulf

AEGLIX vulnerability intelligence

CVE-2024-36401

CRITICAL · CVSS 9.8 · Analyzed

Published: 2024-07-01 · Updated: 2026-06-17 · Source: NVD

Vulnerability overview

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.

Severity and scoring

CVSS score
9.8 · CRITICAL
CVSS version
3.1
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weaknesses
CWE-94, CWE-95

CVSS measures technical severity; it does not establish whether this vulnerability is being exploited in your environment.

Known exploitation and remediation

Listed in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Affected product
OSGeo · GeoServer
Added to catalog
2024-07-15
Required action
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
CISA remediation due date
2024-08-05

CISA deadlines apply to the organizations covered by its directives. Confirm your own remediation requirements.

Verify affected versions and patch availability in the vendor advisory before making changes.

Affected products and versions

  • cpe:2.3:a:geoserver:geoserver:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    Before (exclusive): 2.22.6

  • cpe:2.3:a:geoserver:geoserver:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    From (inclusive): 2.23.0

    Before (exclusive): 2.23.6

  • cpe:2.3:a:geoserver:geoserver:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    From (inclusive): 2.24.0

    Before (exclusive): 2.24.4

  • cpe:2.3:a:geoserver:geoserver:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    From (inclusive): 2.25.0

    Before (exclusive): 2.25.2

  • cpe:2.3:a:geotools:geotools:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    Before (exclusive): 29.6

  • cpe:2.3:a:geotools:geotools:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    From (inclusive): 30.1

    Before (exclusive): 30.4

  • cpe:2.3:a:geotools:geotools:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

    From (inclusive): 31.1

    Before (exclusive): 31.2

  • cpe:2.3:a:geotools:geotools:30.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:geotools:geotools:30.0:rc:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:geotools:geotools:31.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

  • cpe:2.3:a:geotools:geotools:31.0:rc:*:*:*:*:*:*

These are NVD CPE applicability entries. Some products depend on configuration conditions; consult the official record to confirm applicability.

Advisories and references

Explore official sources

Read the official NVD record ↗

Explore the CISA catalog ↗

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