Last updated at Wed, 21 Jul 2021 21:37:31 GMT

On June 29, 2021, security researcher Michael Stepankin (@artsploit) posted details of CVE-2021-35464, a pre-auth remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in ForgeRock Access Manager identity and access management software. ForgeRock front-ends web applications and remote access solutions in many enterprises.

ForgeRock has issued Security Advisory #202104 to provide information on this vulnerability and will be updating it if and when patches are available.

The weakness exists due to unsafe object deserialization via the Jato framework, with a disturbingly diminutive proof of concept that requires a single GET/POST request for code execution:

GET /openam/oauth2/..;/ccversion/Version?jato.pageSession=<serialized_object>

ForgeRock versions below 7.0 running on Java 8 are vulnerable and the weakness also exists in unpatched versions of the Open Identify Platform’s fork of OpenAM. ForgeRock/OIP installations running on Java 9 or higher are unaffected.

As of July 29, 2021 there are no patches for existing versions of ForgeRock Access Manager. Organizations must either upgrade to version 7.x or apply one of the following workarounds:

Option 1

Disable the VersionServlet mapping by commenting out the following section in the AM web.xml file (located in the /path/to/tomcat/webapps/openam/WEB-INF directory):

  <servlet-mapping>        
     <servlet-name>VersionServlet</servlet-name>       
     <url-pattern>/ccversion/*</url-pattern>   
  </servlet-mapping>

To comment out the above section, apply the following changes to the web.xml file:

<!--  
  <servlet-mapping>        
     <servlet-name>VersionServlet</servlet-name>       
     <url-pattern>/ccversion/*</url-pattern>   
  </servlet-mapping>
-->

Option 2

Block access to the ccversion endpoint using a reverse proxy or other method. On Apache Tomcat, ensure that access rules cannot be bypassed using known path traversal issues: Tomcat path traversal via reverse proxy mapping.

The upgrades remove the vulnerable /ccversion HTTP endpoint along with other HTTP paths that used the vulnerable Jato framework.

As of Tuesday, June 29, 2021, Rapid7 Labs has been able to identify just over 1,000 internet-facing systems that appear to be using ForgeRock’s OpenAM solution.

All organizations running ForgeRock OpenAM 7.0.x or lower (or are using the latest release of the Open Identify Platform’s fork of OpenAM) are urged to prioritize upgrading or applying the mitigations within an accelerated patch window if possible, and at the very least within the 30-day window if you are following the typical 30-60-90 day patch criticality cadence.‌‌ Furthermore, organizations that are monitoring web application logs and OpenAM server logs should look for anomalous GET or POST request volume to HTTP path endpoints that include /ccversion in them.

For individual vulnerability analysis, see AttackerKB.

This blog post will be updated with new information as warranted.

Rapid7 Customers

A vulnerability check is available to InsightVM and Nexpose customers so they can assess their exposure to CVE-2021-35464.

Header image photo by Hannah Gibbs on Unsplash