CVE-2019-0187 in JMeter
Summary
by MITRE
Unauthenticated RCE is possible when JMeter is used in distributed mode (-r or -R command line options). Attacker can establish a RMI connection to a jmeter-server using RemoteJMeterEngine and proceed with an attack using untrusted data deserialization. This only affect tests running in Distributed mode. Note that versions before 4.0 are not able to encrypt traffic between the nodes, nor authenticate the participating nodes so upgrade to JMeter 5.1 is also advised.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/26/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-0187 represents a critical security flaw in Apache JMeter's distributed testing functionality that enables unauthenticated remote code execution. This vulnerability specifically affects JMeter versions prior to 5.1 when operating in distributed mode using the -r or -R command line options. The flaw stems from insufficient authentication mechanisms and lack of traffic encryption between distributed nodes, creating an attack surface that adversaries can exploit to gain unauthorized access to testing environments.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the exploitation of Java's Remote Method Invocation (RMI) protocol which JMeter uses for communication between master and slave nodes in distributed testing scenarios. When JMeter operates in distributed mode, the jmeter-server process listens for incoming RMI connections on a default port, typically 1099. Attackers can establish a RemoteJMeterEngine connection to this service without authentication requirements, allowing them to inject malicious serialized objects that will be executed on the target system. This deserialization vulnerability occurs because JMeter's distributed mode does not validate the integrity or authenticity of incoming serialized data, making it susceptible to object injection attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe as it allows attackers to execute arbitrary code on systems running JMeter in distributed mode without requiring any authentication credentials. This means that an attacker who can reach the jmeter-server port can potentially compromise the entire testing infrastructure, leading to data theft, system takeover, or use of the compromised systems for further attacks. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where JMeter is often used for performance testing of critical applications, as the attack can be executed from external networks without detection. The lack of encryption in versions before 4.0 means that all communication between nodes can be intercepted and manipulated, further amplifying the attack surface.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to JMeter version 5.1 or later to address this vulnerability, as the newer versions implement proper authentication mechanisms and encryption for inter-node communications. Additional mitigations include restricting network access to jmeter-server ports using firewalls, implementing network segmentation to isolate testing environments, and configuring proper access controls for distributed JMeter nodes. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-502, which addresses deserialization of untrusted data, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for remote code execution through Java deserialization. Security teams should also consider implementing network monitoring to detect unusual RMI traffic patterns and establish proper patch management processes to ensure all testing infrastructure remains up-to-date with security fixes.