Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2016-4437: Apache Shiro Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2016-4437 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 and affects Apache Shiro, along with 3 other products in NVD’s configuration data. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available. CISA added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2021-11-03, which means exploitation in the wild has been observed.

Vulnerability description

Apache Shiro before 1.2.5, when a cipher key has not been configured for the "remember me" feature, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or bypass intended access restrictions via an unspecified request parameter.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.1 9.8: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-321: Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key

The product uses a hard-coded, unchangeable cryptographic key.

Affected products

Apache Shiro: before 1.2.5
Apache Aurora: from 0.10.0 before 0.18.1
Red Hat Fuse: 1.0
Red Hat Jboss Middleware Text Only Advisories: 1.0