CVE-2016-10304 in NetWeaver AS JAVA
Summary
by MITRE
The SAP EP-RUNTIME component in SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA 7.5 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (out-of-memory error and service instability) via a crafted serialized Java object, as demonstrated by serial.cc3, aka SAP Security Note 2315788.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/28/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-10304 resides within the SAP EP-RUNTIME component of SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA version 7.5, representing a critical security flaw that enables remote authenticated attackers to induce denial of service conditions through carefully crafted serialized Java objects. This vulnerability specifically targets the serialization mechanism within the application runtime environment, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit the system's memory management capabilities.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the manipulation of serialized Java object data structures, particularly leveraging the serial.cc3 payload as demonstrated in the security advisory. When the affected SAP NetWeaver system processes these crafted objects, the runtime environment becomes vulnerable to out-of-memory errors that ultimately result in system instability and service disruption. The flaw stems from insufficient input validation and inadequate memory allocation handling during the deserialization process, allowing attackers to craft objects that consume excessive system resources or trigger memory exhaustion conditions.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to enterprise environments that rely on SAP NetWeaver AS JAVA for critical business operations. The denial of service conditions can result in complete system unavailability, disrupting business processes and potentially causing financial losses. The vulnerability affects authenticated users, meaning that attackers must first establish valid credentials to exploit the flaw, but this authentication requirement does not mitigate the severity of the potential impact on system availability and service integrity.
The attack vector for this vulnerability aligns with common application-level exploitation patterns documented in the ATT&CK framework under the technique of application layer attacks, specifically targeting runtime environments and serialization mechanisms. This vulnerability demonstrates characteristics consistent with CWE-400, which describes unspecified resource exhaustion conditions, and CWE-502, which covers deserialization of untrusted data. The exploitation pattern follows established methodologies for Java deserialization vulnerabilities that have been widely documented in security research and incident reports.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant SAP security notes, specifically SAP Security Note 2315788, which provides detailed guidance for patching and configuration changes. System administrators should also consider implementing network-level restrictions to limit access to vulnerable components, while monitoring for unusual memory consumption patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The mitigation strategies should include proper input validation mechanisms and enhanced resource management controls to prevent the exploitation of serialization flaws that could lead to system instability and denial of service conditions.