# CVE-2024-36401: GeoServer - RCE

> Live exploitation tracking for CVE-2024-36401 by the CrowdSec Live Exploit Tracker, built from real-world attack data crowdsourced from CrowdSec's global network.

Page: https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2024-36401

## Key facts

- **Exploitation phase:** Background Noise. Continuous low-level scanning or exploitation attempts are observed, mostly opportunistic and automated.
- **CVSS score:** 9.8
- **Public exploit available:** Yes
- **Affected products:** GeoServer
- **Weaknesses:** CWE-94 (Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection'))
- **Tags:** web_application

## Description

GeoServer is an open source server that allows users to share and edit geospatial data. Prior to versions 2.23.6, 2.24.4, and 2.25.2, multiple OGC request parameters allow Remote Code Execution (RCE) by unauthenticated users through specially crafted input against a default GeoServer installation due to unsafely evaluating property names as XPath expressions.

The GeoTools library API that GeoServer calls evaluates property/attribute names for feature types in a way that unsafely passes them to the commons-jxpath library which can execute arbitrary code when evaluating XPath expressions. This XPath evaluation is intended to be used only by complex feature types (i.e., Application Schema data stores) but is incorrectly being applied to simple feature types as well which makes this vulnerability apply to **ALL** GeoServer instances. No public PoC is provided but this vulnerability has been confirmed to be exploitable through WFS GetFeature, WFS GetPropertyValue, WMS GetMap, WMS GetFeatureInfo, WMS GetLegendGraphic and WPS Execute requests. This vulnerability can lead to executing arbitrary code.

Versions 2.23.6, 2.24.4, and 2.25.2 contain a patch for the issue. A workaround exists by removing the `gt-complex-x.y.jar` file from the GeoServer where `x.y` is the GeoTools version (e.g., `gt-complex-31.1.jar` if running GeoServer 2.25.1). This will remove the vulnerable code from GeoServer but may break some GeoServer functionality or prevent GeoServer from deploying if the gt-complex module is needed.

## CrowdSec analysis

[CVE-2024-36401](https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/CVE-2024-36401) is a critical vulnerability impacting GeoServer, allowing unauthenticated attackers to achieve remote code execution by leveraging unsafe evaluation of certain request parameters within geospatial services.

CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 16th of July 2024.

CrowdSec network data shows that most actors exploiting CVE-2024-36401 rely on broad, untargeted scans with minimal filtering. The activity is largely automated and opportunistic in nature.
Telemetry from the CrowdSec network also shows that exploitation activity for CVE-2024-36401 remains steady week-over-week. Attack volumes are consistent with long-term trends, indicating sustained interest from threat actors. CVE-2024-36401 continues to be an active part of the threat landscape and will likely remain this way for the forseeable future.

Observed attack patterns often involve requests to URLs containing `/geoserver/web` or `/geoserver/wfs`.

## Timeline

- 2024-07-01: CVE Published. CVE-2024-36401 is published to NVD.
- 2024-07-15: CISA KEV. CVE-2024-36401 is added to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog by CISA.
- 2024-07-16: Rule Released. CrowdSec releases a rule to detect CVE-2024-36401 exploitation attempts against the CrowdSec Network.
- 2024-08-05: CISA Remediation Deadline. Expiration of the CISA remediation deadline as described in [BOD 22-01](https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-22-01-reducing-significant-risk-known-exploited-vulnerabilities).
- 2024-11-23: CrowdSec First Seen. CrowdSec observes in-the-wild exploitation of CVE-2024-36401 for the first time.

## References

- https://github.com/geoserver/geoserver/security/advisories/GHSA-6jj6-gm7p-fcvv
- https://github.com/geotools/geotools/security/advisories/GHSA-w3pj-wh35-fq8w
- https://github.com/geotools/geotools/pull/4797
- https://github.com/Warxim/CVE-2022-41852?tab=readme-ov-file#workaround-for-cve-2022-41852
- https://osgeo-org.atlassian.net/browse/GEOT-7587
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2024/CVE-2024-36401.yaml
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/geoserver-rce-cve-2024-36401

## Live exploitation data

The [Live Exploit Tracker page](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/cves/CVE-2024-36401) follows observed exploitation activity for CVE-2024-36401. [Request an API key](https://tracker.crowdsec.net/request-api-key) for full access to its exploitation timeline, attacking IP addresses and blocklists.