CVE-2011-3557 in JRE
Summary
by MITRE
Unspecified vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment component in Oracle Java SE JDK and JRE 7, 6 Update 27 and earlier, 5.0 Update 31 and earlier, 1.4.2_33 and earlier, and JRockit R28.1.4 and earlier allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability, related to RMI.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/24/2021
The vulnerability described in CVE-2011-3557 represents a critical security flaw within the Java Runtime Environment component that affects multiple versions of Oracle Java SE JDK and JRE across different release lines. This issue specifically impacts the Remote Method Invocation (RMI) functionality which is a core component of Java's distributed computing capabilities, enabling objects to invoke methods on remote Java Virtual Machines. The unspecified nature of the vulnerability indicates that the exact technical flaw has not been publicly detailed, but its classification as affecting confidentiality, integrity, and availability demonstrates the severity of potential impact on Java-based systems.
The technical flaw resides within the RMI implementation that handles remote object communication and method invocation processes. When Java applications utilize RMI for distributed computing, they rely on the underlying runtime environment to properly serialize and deserialize objects during remote method calls. This vulnerability likely exploits weaknesses in the deserialization process or in the network communication handling that occurs during RMI operations, potentially allowing attackers to execute arbitrary code or manipulate the runtime environment. The vulnerability affects systems running Java versions 7, 6 Update 27 and earlier, 5.0 Update 31 and earlier, 1.4.2_33 and earlier, as well as JRockit R28.1.4 and earlier, indicating a widespread impact across multiple Java release streams.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risk to organizations relying on Java-based distributed applications and services that utilize RMI for inter-process communication. Attackers could potentially exploit this vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to systems, manipulate data integrity, or cause denial of service conditions that would compromise the availability of critical applications. The impact extends beyond individual system compromise to potentially affect entire distributed application architectures that depend on RMI for communication between components. Organizations running legacy Java applications or those that have not updated to patched versions face substantial risk of exploitation, particularly in environments where Java applications are exposed to untrusted network traffic.
The vulnerability aligns with common attack patterns documented in the ATT&CK framework under the category of remote code execution and privilege escalation techniques, where attackers leverage weaknesses in application frameworks to gain system-level access. From a CWE perspective, this vulnerability likely maps to CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions, or CWE-476, which covers null pointer dereference conditions that could occur during RMI object handling. Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including applying the latest security patches from Oracle, implementing network segmentation to limit exposure of RMI services, and disabling RMI functionality where it is not essential for application operations. Additionally, monitoring network traffic for suspicious RMI communications and implementing proper access controls for RMI endpoints can help reduce the attack surface and potential impact of exploitation attempts.