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OpenjdkApplication · Sun

CVE-2009-2689

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-08-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
JDK13Services.getProviders in Sun Java SE 5.0 before Update 20 and 6 before Update 15, and OpenJDK, grants full privileges to instances of unspecified object types, which allows context-dependent attackers to bypass intended access restrictions via an untrusted (1) applet or (2) application.

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 analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-264

A legacy NVD category covering weaknesses where permissions or privileges are assigned, checked, or dropped incorrectly, so an action ends up running with more access than it should. It is an umbrella label from older records, not a single flaw. The remedy depends on the specific case, but the throughline is least privilege with explicit, checked transitions wherever privilege changes.

General guidance for the permissions, privileges & access controls class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
OpenjdkApplication
Affected:all versions
Java SeApplication
Affected:<= 5.0<= 6

CVSS 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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 6
Vendor patch java.sun.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Java SE 5.0 Update 20+, Java SE 6 Update 15+, or modern LTS versions (Java 8/11/17/21)

  1. 1. Identify all Java installations currently in use in the environment using 'java -version' or system package managers
  2. 2. Uninstall or remove older vulnerable Java versions (Java SE 5.0 before Update 20, Java SE 6 before Update 15, and older OpenJDK versions)
  3. 3. Download and install a supported, fixed Java release. For Java SE 5.0, install Update 20 or later. For Java SE 6, install Update 15 or later
  4. 4. Alternatively, upgrade to a modern long-term supported (LTS) Java version such as Java 8, 11, 17, or 21 which include fixes for this and many other vulnerabilities
  5. 5. Verify the installation by running 'java -version' to confirm the new version is active
  6. 6. Test all applications and applets to ensure functionality with the updated Java version
  7. 7. Configure the Java Control Panel security settings appropriately for the environment
Caveat Older Java 5/6 applications may have compatibility issues with newer Java versions; thorough testing is recommended

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2009-2689 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
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