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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 May 2022.
StrutsFramework / library · Apache

CVE-2018-11776

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2018-08-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.3.35 / 2.5.17 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit 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
Apache Struts versions 2.3 to 2.3.34 and 2.5 to 2.5.16 suffer from possible Remote Code Execution when alwaysSelectFullNamespace is true (either by user or a plugin like Convention Plugin) and then: results are used with no namespace and in same time, its upper package have no or wildcard namespace and similar to results, same possibility when using url tag which doesn't have value and action set and in same time, its upper package have no or wildcard namespace.

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

Apache Struts versions 2.3.x through 2.3.34 and 2.5.x through 2.5.16 allow Remote Code Execution when alwaysSelectFullNamespace is set to true (via user configuration or Convention Plugin). Exploitation occurs when results or URL tags are used without explicit namespace attributes while their parent package has no or wildcard namespace, allowing attackers to inject malicious namespace values that lead to arbitrary OGNL expression execution.

MitigationUpgrade Apache Struts to version 2.3.35 or 2.5.17 or later. If upgrade is not immediately possible, verify that alwaysSelectFullNamespace is not enabled and that all packages/results define explicit namespaces without wildcards.

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
StrutsFramework / library
Affected:>= 2.0.4, < 2.3.35>= 2.5.0, < 2.5.17
Active Iq Unified ManagerApplication
Affected:>= 7.3>= 9.5
Oncommand InsightApplication
Affected:all versions
Oncommand Workflow AutomationApplication
Affected:all versions
SnapcenterApplication
Affected:all versions
Communications Policy ManagementApplication
Affected:< 12.5.0
Enterprise Manager Base PlatformApplication
Affected:= 13.3.0.0= 13.4.0.0
Mysql Enterprise MonitorDatabase / datastore
Affected:<= 3.4.9.4237>= 4.0.0, <= 4.0.6.5281>= 8.0.0, <= 8.0.2.8191

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 Apache Struts version
    Locate struts2-core.jar in your application classpath or WEB-INF/lib directory. Run: jar -xf struts2-core.jar META-INF/MANIFEST.MF && cat META-INF/MANIFEST.MF to read the Implementation-Version. Or check your build/pom.xml dependencies for struts2-core version.
    Affected if Version is >= 2.0.4 and < 2.3.35, or >= 2.5.0 and < 2.5.17.
  2. Verify alwaysSelectFullNamespace setting
    Search your struts.xml configuration file (typically in WEB-INF/classes/) for: <constant name="struts.enable.SlashesInActionNames" value="true"/> followed by <constant name="struts.mapper.alwaysSelectFullNamespace" value="true"/>. Also check struts.properties for these same constants.
    Affected if alwaysSelectFullNamespace is explicitly set to true.
  3. Check for Convention Plugin usage
    Examine your pom.xml or lib folder for struts2-convention-plugin.jar. If present, the Convention Plugin may enable alwaysSelectFullNamespace behavior by default. Search for @Action annotations in your action classes.
    Affected if Convention Plugin is deployed and results/URL tags are used.
  4. Inspect namespace definitions in struts.xml
    Review all <package> definitions in struts.xml. Check whether packages define explicit namespace attributes (e.g., namespace="/admin") or use wildcards (namespace="*"). Look for parent packages that lack namespace constraints.
    Affected if Packages use no namespace or wildcard namespace with results/URL tags present.
  5. Identify exposed results and URL tags
    Search JSP files for <s:result> and <s:url> tags within the application. These tags are vulnerable when used in configurations matching the affected condition. grep -r "<s:result" and grep -r "<s:url" in your webapp directory.
    Affected if Results or URL tags exist in the application and the namespace conditions above are met.

Your environment is affected if you run Apache Struts within the vulnerable version range AND have alwaysSelectFullNamespace enabled (either explicitly or via Convention Plugin) while using results or URL tags without proper namespace constraints in packages with no or wildcard namespaces.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.3.35 / 2.5.17 / 12.5.0 or later
Fixed in 2.3.352.5.1712.5.0
Vendor patch www.oracle.com →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Apache Struts to version 2.3.35 or 2.5.17 or later. If upgrade is not immediately possible, verify that alwaysSelectFullNamespace is not enabled and that all packages/results define explicit namespaces without wildcards.

Recommended fix High confidence

Struts 2.3.35 or later for 2.3.x branch; Struts 2.5.17 or later for 2.5.x branch

  1. 1. Identify all applications using Apache Struts libraries in the environment
  2. 2. For Struts 2.3.x branch: upgrade to Struts 2.3.35 or later
  3. 3. For Struts 2.5.x branch: upgrade to Struts 2.5.17 or later
  4. 4. Verify the upgrade by checking the Struts version in deployed libraries
  5. 5. Test the application thoroughly after upgrade to ensure functionality is intact
  6. 6. For other affected products (NetApp, Oracle, Aruba), apply vendor-specific patches as listed in their security advisories
Caveat Minor: Upgrading Struts may introduce compatibility issues with custom plugins or third-party libraries; test thoroughly before production deployment

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

Fix this in Struts Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • 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-2018-11776 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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