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Jboss Enterprise Application PlatformApplication · Redhat

CVE-2023-3171

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-12-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
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
A flaw was found in EAP-7 during deserialization of certain classes, which permits instantiation of HashMap and HashTable with no checks on resources consumed. This issue could allow an attacker to submit malicious requests using these classes, which could eventually exhaust the heap and result in a Denial of Service.

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

A deserialization flaw in EAP-7 allows instantiation of HashMap and HashTable classes without resource consumption checks. Attackers can submit malicious requests using these classes, causing excessive memory allocation that exhausts the heap and results in Denial of Service.

MitigationImplement deserialization allowlist filters to restrict which classes can be deserialized, particularly blocking HashMap and HashTable from untrusted sources, and configure resource limits on deserialization operations.

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:= 7.4all versions

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 JBoss EAP installation and version
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep jboss' or check the product version file in the EAP installation directory (typically $JBOSS_HOME/bin/product.conf or similar)
    Affected if The installed version is Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 (any subversion)
  2. Determine if deserialization endpoints are exposed
    Check JBoss configuration files (standalone.xml or domain.xml) for remoting, JMX remoting, or HTTP invoker endpoints that accept serialized Java objects from external sources
    Affected if Deserialization services like JMX-over-RMI, HTTPInvoker, or JBoss Remoting are exposed to untrusted network segments or the internet
  3. Inspect deserialization filter configuration
    Search for 'javax.management.j2ee.deserialization' or 'allowed-classes' filter configurations in the JBoss configuration and security subsystem settings
    Affected if No deserialization allowlist filters are configured, or HashMap and HashTable are not explicitly blocked from deserialization
  4. Check for resource limits on deserialization
    Look for JVM heap memory limits (-Xmx) in the startup scripts and any deserialization timeout or depth limits in the security configuration
    Affected if No resource consumption limits are enforced on deserialization operations, or heap size is not configured to mitigate memory exhaustion
  5. Verify network accessibility of deserialization services
    Review firewall rules and network bindings to determine if JBoss remoting ports (typically 4447, 8080, or custom ports) are accessible from untrusted networks
    Affected if Deserialization-capable services are reachable from external/untrusted network sources without authentication or additional filtering

You are affected if JBoss EAP 7.4 is running with deserialization endpoints exposed to untrusted sources and no allowlist filters blocking HashMap/HashTable deserialization are configured.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement deserialization allowlist filters to restrict which classes can be deserialized, particularly blocking HashMap and HashTable from untrusted sources, and configure resource limits on deserialization operations.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

JBoss EAP 7.4.x latest Update (containing CVE-2023-3171 fix)

  1. 1. Identify the current JBoss EAP 7.4.x version in use (check jboss-eap-7.4 / standalone.xml for version)
  2. 2. Navigate to access.redhat.com and locate the security advisory for CVE-2023-3171
  3. 3. Download and apply the latest JBoss EAP 7.4.x update (e.g., 7.4.x Update N where the fix is included)
  4. 4. Ensure the new package is applied by replacing the jboss-eap-7.4 directory or using the applicable patch mechanism
  5. 5. Restart JBoss EAP services to load the updated libraries
Caveat Minor - this is a patch update within the same 7.4.x stream; review release notes for any deserialization-related changes

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

Fix this in Jboss Enterprise Application Platform Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
27.0 hours of engineering $4,800
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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-2023-3171 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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