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Jboss Enterprise Application PlatformApplication · Redhat

CVE-2011-1484

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2011-07-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.2.2 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
jboss-seam.jar in the JBoss Seam 2 framework 2.2.x and earlier, as distributed in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform 4.3.0.CP04 and 5.1.0 and JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (aka JBoss EAP or JBEAP) 4.3.0.CP09 and 5.1.0, does not properly restrict use of Expression Language (EL) statements in FacesMessages during page exception handling, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary Java code via a crafted URL to an 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 · high confidence

JBoss Seam 2 framework versions 2.2.x and earlier contain an Expression Language (EL) injection vulnerability in the FacesMessages component during page exception handling. Attackers can craft malicious URLs containing EL statements that get evaluated server-side, allowing arbitrary Java code execution.

MitigationUpgrade JBoss Seam to a patched version that properly sanitizes EL expressions in FacesMessages, or implement input validation to prevent EL metacharacters in user-controllable parameters.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
Jboss Enterprise Application PlatformApplication
Affected:= 4.3.0= 5.1.0
Jboss Enterprise Soa PlatformApplication
Affected:= 4.3.0= 5.1.0
Jboss Seam 2 FrameworkApplication
Affected:<= 2.2.2= 2.0.0= 2.0.1= 2.0.2= 2.0.3= 2.1.0= 2.1.1= 2.1.2= 2.2.0= 2.2.1

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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify JBoss Seam 2 installation
    Locate the jboss-seam*.jar file in the application deployment (typically in WEB-INF/lib or as a module). Check the JAR filename for the exact version number (e.g., jboss-seam-2.2.2.jar).
    Affected if The installed version is 2.2.2 or earlier, or matches any of the specific affected versions (2.0.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.0.3, 2.1.0, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.2.0, 2.2.1).
  2. Check JBoss EAP or SOA platform version
    If running JBoss Enterprise Application Platform or SOA Platform, check the installed version by examining the server release files (e.g., run 'jboss/bin/version.sh' or check the release notes/manifest).
    Affected if The platform version is 4.3.0 or 5.1.0, as these include the vulnerable Seam 2 component.
  3. Verify FacesMessages component usage
    Search application codebase for imports and usage of org.jboss.seam FacesMessages class (e.g., grep -r 'import.*FacesMessages' or inspect components.xml/seam.properties for Seam configuration).
    Affected if The application uses the FacesMessages component, which is required for the vulnerability to be exploitable.
  4. Inspect exception handler configuration
    Check web.xml for custom exception handlers, and review pages.xml or *.page.xml files for exception handling configuration that interacts with FacesMessages during error rendering.
    Affected if Custom exception handling that invokes FacesMessages during page exception handling is configured and accessible to external users.
  5. Test for EL injection via URL parameters
    Inject EL metacharacters (e.g., #{systemProperties}) into request parameters on pages that render FacesMessages errors to observe if expression evaluation occurs.
    Affected if EL expressions in URL parameters are evaluated rather than treated as literal strings, indicating the vulnerability is present.

You are affected if your environment runs JBoss Seam 2 version 2.2.2 or earlier (or JBoss EAP/SOA 4.3.0/5.1.0), uses the FacesMessages component, and has accessible exception handling that processes user-supplied parameters through EL evaluation.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.2.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade JBoss Seam to a patched version that properly sanitizes EL expressions in FacesMessages, or implement input validation to prevent EL metacharacters in user-controllable parameters.

Fix this in Jboss Enterprise Application Platform Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
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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-2011-1484 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data