CVE-2008-5353
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Sun JDK and JRE 6 Update 10 and earlier; JDK and JRE 5.0 Update 16 and earlier; and SDK and JRE 1.4.2_18 and earlier does not properly enforce context of ZoneInfo objects during deserialization, which allows remote attackers to run untrusted applets and applications in a privileged context, as demonstrated by "deserializing Calendar objects".
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisA detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 5.0<= 6= 5.0= 6<= 1.4.2_18<= 5.0<= 6= 1.4.2_1= 1.4.2_2= 1.4.2_3= 1.4.2_4= 1.4.2_5= 1.4.2_6= 1.4.2_7= 1.4.2_8= 1.4.2_9<= 1.4.2_18= 1.4.2_1= 1.4.2_2= 1.4.2_3= 1.4.2_4= 1.4.2_5= 1.4.2_6= 1.4.2_7= 1.4.2_8= 1.4.2_9= 1.4.2_10= 1.4.2_11CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedJava 6 Update 11+, Java 5.0 Update 17+, Java 1.4.2_19+, or migrate to a supported LTS release such as Java 11 or Java 17
- 1. Identify all systems running affected Java versions (JDK/JRE <= 5.0 Update 16, <= 6 Update 10, or <= 1.4.2_18)
- 2. Determine the specific Java version in use by running 'java -version' on each system
- 3. For Java 6 Update 10 and earlier: Upgrade to Java 6 Update 11 or later (or migrate to a supported Java 8/11/17 LTS release)
- 4. For Java 5.0 Update 16 and earlier: Upgrade to Java 5.0 Update 17 or later (or migrate to a supported Java 8/11/17 LTS release)
- 5. For Java 1.4.2_18 and earlier: Upgrade to Java 1.4.2_19 or later (or migrate to a supported Java 8/11/17 LTS release)
- 6. Download the updated Java version from Oracle's official Java SE archive page or adopt OpenJDK alternatives
- 7. Install the updated Java version on all affected systems
- 8. Verify the new version is correctly installed by running 'java -version'
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-5353 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sources- sunsolve.sun.com
- sunsolve.sun.com
- blog.cr0.org
- landonf.bikemonkey.org
- lists.opensuse.org
- lists.opensuse.org
- lists.opensuse.org
- lists.opensuse.org
- marc.info
- marc.info
- osvdb.org
- rhn.redhat.com
- rhn.redhat.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- secunia.com
- security.gentoo.org
- support.avaya.com
- support.nortel.com
- www.redhat.com
- www.redhat.com
- www.redhat.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.securitytracker.com
- www.us-cert.gov
- www.vupen.com
- www.vupen.com
- www.vupen.com
- www116.nortel.com
- oval.cisecurity.org
- rhn.redhat.com
- nvd.nist.gov
Practitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-5353 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data