CVE-2022-41966

XStream is a simple library to serialize objects to XML and back again. A high level facade is supplied that simplifies common use cases. Custom objects can be serialized without need for specifying mappings. Speed and low memory footprint are a crucial part of the design, making it suitable for large object graphs or systems with high message throughput. No information is duplicated that can be obtained via reflection. This results in XML that is easier to read for humans and more compact than native Java serialization. XStream serializes internal fields, including private and final. Supports non-public and inner classes. Classes are not required to have default constructor. Duplicate references encountered in the object-model will be maintained. Supports circular references. By implementing an interface, XStream can serialize directly to/from any tree structure (not just XML). Strategies can be registered allowing customization of how particular types are represented as XML. When an exception occurs due to malformed XML, detailed diagnostics are provided to help isolate and fix the problem.

Security Fix(es):

Those using Xstream to seralize XML data may be vulnerable to Denial of Service attacks (DOS). If the parser is running on user supplied input, an attacker may supply content that causes the parser to crash by stackoverflow. This effect may support a denial of service attack.(CVE-2022-40151)

XStream serializes Java objects to XML and back again. Versions prior to 1.4.20 may allow a remote attacker to terminate the application with a stack overflow error, resulting in a denial of service only via manipulation the processed input stream. The attack uses the hash code implementation for collections and maps to force recursive hash calculation causing a stack overflow. This issue is patched in version 1.4.20 which handles the stack overflow and raises an InputManipulationException instead. A potential workaround for users who only use HashMap or HashSet and whose XML refers these only as default map or set, is to change the default implementation of java.util.Map and java.util per the code example in the referenced advisory. However, this implies that your application does not care about the implementation of the map and all elements are comparable.(CVE-2022-41966)

XStream is a simple library to serialize objects to XML and back again. A high level facade is supplied that simplifies common use cases. Custom objects can be serialized without need for specifying mappings. Speed and low memory footprint are a crucial part of the design, making it suitable for large object graphs or systems with high message throughput. No information is duplicated that can be obtained via reflection. This results in XML that is easier to read for humans and more compact than native Java serialization. XStream serializes internal fields, including private and final. Supports non-public and inner classes. Classes are not required to have default constructor. Duplicate references encountered in the object-model will be maintained. Supports circular references. By implementing an interface, XStream can serialize directly to/from any tree structure (not just XML). Strategies can be registered allowing customization of how particular types are represented as XML. When an exception occurs due to malformed XML, detailed diagnostics are provided to help isolate and fix the problem.

Security Fix(es):

Those using Xstream to seralize XML data may be vulnerable to Denial of Service attacks (DOS). If the parser is running on user supplied input, an attacker may supply content that causes the parser to crash by stackoverflow. This effect may support a denial of service attack.(CVE-2022-40151)

XStream serializes Java objects to XML and back again. Versions prior to 1.4.20 may allow a remote attacker to terminate the application with a stack overflow error, resulting in a denial of service only via manipulation the processed input stream. The attack uses the hash code implementation for collections and maps to force recursive hash calculation causing a stack overflow. This issue is patched in version 1.4.20 which handles the stack overflow and raises an InputManipulationException instead. A potential workaround for users who only use HashMap or HashSet and whose XML refers these only as default map or set, is to change the default implementation of java.util.Map and java.util per the code example in the referenced advisory. However, this implies that your application does not care about the implementation of the map and all elements are comparable.(CVE-2022-41966)

Red Hat Lightwell has released com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream 1.4.18.rhlw-00006 with backported fixes for CVE-2021-43859, CVE-2022-41966, and CVE-2024-47072.

CVE-2021-43859: XStream is an open source java library to serialize objects to XML and back again. Versions prior to 1.4.19 may allow a remote attacker to allocate 100% CPU time on the target system depending on CPU type or parallel execution of such a payload resulting in a denial of service only by manipulating the processed input stream. XStream 1.4.19 monitors and accumulates the time it takes to add elements to collections and throws an exception if a set threshold is exceeded. Users are advised to upgrade as soon as possible. Users unable to upgrade may set the NO_REFERENCE mode to prevent recursion. See GHSA-rmr5-cpv2-vgjf for further details on a workaround if an upgrade is not possible.

CVE-2022-41966: XStream Denial of Service via stack overflow

CVE-2024-47072: XStream is vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack due to stack overflow from a manipulated binary input stream

This patched artifact is a drop-in replacement for com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream 1.4.18 from Maven Central.

XStream serializes Java objects to XML and back again. Versions prior to 1.4.20 may allow a remote attacker to terminate the application with a stack overflow error, resulting in a denial of service only via manipulation the processed input stream. The attack uses the hash code implementation for collections and maps to force recursive hash calculation causing a stack overflow. This issue is patched in version 1.4.20 which handles the stack overflow and raises an InputManipulationException instead. A potential workaround for users who only use HashMap or HashSet and whose XML refers these only as default map or set, is to change the default implementation of java.util.Map and java.util per the code example in the referenced advisory. However, this implies that your application does not care about the implementation of the map and all elements are comparable.

TuxCare rebuilt com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream to address 15 CVEs. Fixed in 1.4.17-tuxcare.1.

XStream serializes Java objects to XML and back again. Versions prior to 1.4.20 may allow a remote attacker to terminate the application with a stack overflow error, resulting in a denial of service only via manipulation the processed input stream. The attack uses the hash code implementation for collections and maps to force recursive hash calculation causing a stack overflow. This issue is patched in version 1.4.20 which handles the stack overflow and raises an InputManipulationException instead. A potential workaround for users who only use HashMap or HashSet and whose XML refers these only as default map or set, is to change the default implementation of java.util.Map and java.util per the code example in the referenced advisory. However, this implies that your application does not care about the implementation of the map and all elements are comparable.

These are all security issues fixed in the xstream-1.4.20-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.

Root has patched CVE-2022-41966 in the io.root.com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream package for Root:Maven. Multiple fixed versions available.

This update for xstream fixes the following issues:

• CVE-2022-40151: Fixed stackoverflow in XML serialization (bsc#1203520).

• CVE-2022-41966: Fixed denial of service via uncontrolled recursion during deserialization (bsc#1206729).

• Upgrade to 1.4.20.

Lai Han discovered that XStream incorrectly handled certain inputs. If a user or an automated system were tricked into opening a specially crafted input file, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. (CVE-2021-39140)

It was discovered that XStream incorrectly handled certain inputs. If a user or an automated system were tricked into opening a specially crafted input file, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to execute arbitrary code. This issue only affected Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. (CVE-2021-39139, CVE-2021-39141, CVE-2021-39144, CVE-2021-39145, CVE-2021-39146, CVE-2021-39147, CVE-2021-39148, CVE-2021-39149, CVE-2021-39151, CVE-2021-39153, CVE-2021-39154)

It was discovered that XStream incorrectly handled certain inputs. If a user or an automated system were tricked into opening a specially crafted input file, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to obtain sensitive information. This issue only affected Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. (CVE-2021-39150, CVE-2021-39152)

Lai Han discovered that XStream incorrectly handled certain inputs. If a user or an automated system were tricked into opening a specially crafted input file, a remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2022-41966)