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Medium

XStream vulnerable to an Arbitrary File Deletion on the local host when unmarshalling

  • Disclosed: 21.12.2020
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 12:22

Impact

The vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to delete arbitrary know files on the host as log as the executing process has sufficient rights only by manipulating the processed input stream.

Patches

If you rely on XStream's default blacklist of the Security Framework, you will have to use at least version 1.4.15.

Workarounds

The reported vulnerability does only exist with a JAX-WS runtime on the classpath.

No user is affected, who followed the recommendation to setup XStream's Security Framework with a whitelist! Anyone relying on XStream's default blacklist can immediately switch to a whilelist for the allowed types to avoid the vulnerability.

Users of XStream 1.4.14 or below who still insist to use XStream default blacklist - despite that clear recommendation - can use a workaround depending on their version in use.

Users of XStream 1.4.14 can simply add two lines to XStream's setup code:

java
xstream.denyTypes(new String[]{ "jdk.nashorn.internal.objects.NativeString" });
xstream.denyTypesByRegExp(new String[]{ ".*\\.ReadAllStream\\$FileStream" });

Users of XStream 1.4.14 to 1.4.13 can simply add three lines to XStream's setup code:

java
xstream.denyTypes(new String[]{ "javax.imageio.ImageIO$ContainsFilter", "jdk.nashorn.internal.objects.NativeString" });
xstream.denyTypes(new Class[]{ java.lang.ProcessBuilder.class });
xstream.denyTypesByRegExp(new String[]{ ".*\\.ReadAllStream\\$FileStream" });

Users of XStream 1.4.12 to 1.4.7 who want to use XStream with a black list will have to setup such a list from scratch and deny at least the following types: javax.imageio.ImageIO$ContainsFilter, java.beans.EventHandler, java.lang.ProcessBuilder, jdk.nashorn.internal.objects.NativeString.class, java.lang.Void and void and deny several types by name pattern.

java
xstream.denyTypes(new String[]{ "javax.imageio.ImageIO$ContainsFilter", "jdk.nashorn.internal.objects.NativeString" });
xstream.denyTypes(new Class[]{ java.lang.ProcessBuilder.class, "jdk.nashorn.internal.objects.NativeString", java.beans.EventHandler.class, java.lang.ProcessBuilder.class, java.lang.Void.class, void.class });
xstream.denyTypesByRegExp(new String[]{ ".*\\$LazyIterator", "javax\\.crypto\\..*", ".*\\.ReadAllStream\\$FileStream" });

Users of XStream 1.4.6 or below can register an own converter to prevent the unmarshalling of the currently know critical types of the Java runtime. It is in fact an updated version of the workaround for CVE-2013-7285:

java
xstream.registerConverter(new Converter() {
  public boolean canConvert(Class type) {
    return type != null && (type == java.beans.EventHandler.class || type == java.lang.ProcessBuilder.class
        || type.getName().equals("javax.imageio.ImageIO$ContainsFilter") || type.getName().equals("jdk.nashorn.internal.objects.NativeString")
        || type == java.lang.Void.class || void.class || Proxy.isProxy(type))
        || type.getName().startsWith("javax.crypto.") || type.getName().endsWith("$LazyIterator") || type.getName().endsWith(".ReadAllStream$FileStream"));
  }

  public Object unmarshal(HierarchicalStreamReader reader, UnmarshallingContext context) {
    throw new ConversionException("Unsupported type due to security reasons.");
  }

  public void marshal(Object source, HierarchicalStreamWriter writer, MarshallingContext context) {
    throw new ConversionException("Unsupported type due to security reasons.");
  }
}, XStream.PRIORITY_LOW);

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Java / Kotlin (Maven) com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream < 1.4.15 1.4.15

References

CVSS score 6.8/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-78
Platform
Java / Kotlin (Maven)
Package
com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream
Disclosed
21.12.2020
Updated
11.10.2026 12:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-jfvx-7wrx-43fh - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream

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.

All (37) in the archive
Total entries
37
First → latest
05.2019 11.2024
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
1

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 2
  • High 22
  • Medium 13

Disclosures per year

Severity:
  1. XStream is vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack due to stack overflow from a manipulated binary input stream
    High · 7.5 CVE-2024-47072 < 1.4.21 1.4.21
  2. XStream can cause a Denial of Service by injecting deeply nested objects raising a stack overflow
    High · 7.5 CVE-2022-40151 < 1.4.20 1.4.20
  3. XStream can cause Denial of Service via stack overflow
    High · 8.2 CVE-2022-41966 < 1.4.20 1.4.20
  4. Denial of Service by injecting highly recursive collections or maps in XStream
    High · 7.5 CVE-2021-43859 < 1.4.19 1.4.19
  5. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39139 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  6. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39141 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  7. XStream is vulnerable to a Remote Command Execution attack
    High · 8.5 Exploited in attacks CVE-2021-39144 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  8. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39145 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  9. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39146 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  10. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39147 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  11. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39148 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  12. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39149 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  13. A Server-Side Forgery Request can be activated unmarshalling with XStream to access data streams from an arbitrary URL referencing a resource in an intranet or the local host
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39150 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  14. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39151 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  15. A Server-Side Forgery Request can be activated unmarshalling with XStream to access data streams from an arbitrary URL referencing a resource in an intranet or the local host
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39152 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  16. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39153 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  17. XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary Code Execution attack
    High · 8.5 CVE-2021-39154 < 1.4.18 1.4.18
  18. XStream is vulnerable to a Remote Command Execution attack
    High · 7.5 CVE-2021-29505 < 1.4.17 1.4.17
  19. XStream can cause a Denial of Service.
    High · 7.5 CVE-2021-21341 < 1.4.16 1.4.16
  20. XStream vulnerable to an Arbitrary File Deletion on the local host when unmarshalling this entry
    Medium · 6.8 CVE-2020-26259 < 1.4.15 1.4.15
Show more (5) Showing 20 of 25

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