Medium

Server-Side Request Forgery in Karaf

  • Disclosed: 10.02.2022
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 11:21

In Karaf, JMX authentication takes place using JAAS and authorization takes place using ACL files. By default, only an "admin" can actually invoke on an MBean. However there is a vulnerability there for someone who is not an admin, but has a "viewer" role. In the 'etc/jmx.acl.cfg', such as role can call get*. It's possible to authenticate as a viewer role + invokes on the MLet getMBeansFromURL method, which goes off to a remote server to fetch the desired MBean, which is then registered in Karaf. At this point the attack fails as "viewer" doesn't have the permission to invoke on the MBean. Still, it could act as a SSRF style attack and also it essentially allows a "viewer" role to pollute the MBean registry, which is a kind of privilege escalation. The vulnerability is low as it's possible to add a ACL to limit access. Users should update to Apache Karaf 4.2.9 or newer.

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Java / Kotlin (Maven) org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.server < 4.2.9 4.2.9

References

CVSS score 6.3/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-918
Platform
Java / Kotlin (Maven)
Package
org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.server
Disclosed
10.02.2022
Updated
11.10.2026 11:21

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-9jg9-6wm2-x7p5 - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.server

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries
2
First → latest
01.2022 02.2022
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 1
  • Medium 1

Disclosures per year

  1. 2022: 2
  2. 2023: 0
  3. 2024: 0
  4. 2025: 0
  5. 2026: 0
  1. Server-Side Request Forgery in Karaf this entry
    Medium · 6.3 CVE-2020-11980 < 4.2.9 4.2.9
  2. High · 8.1 CVE-2021-41766 < 4.3.6 4.3.6

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