UNSUPPORTED WHEN ASSIGNED Apache Tapestry 3.x allows deserialization of untrusted data, leading to remote code execution. This issue is similar to but distinct from CVE-2020-17531, which applies the the (also unsupported) 4.x version line. NOTE: This vulnerability only affects Apache Tapestry version line 3.x, which is no longer supported by the maintainer. Users are recommended to upgrade to a supported version line of Apache Tapestry.

A critical unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability was found all recent versions of Apache Tapestry. The affected versions include 5.4.5, 5.5.0, 5.6.2 and 5.7.0. The vulnerability I have found is a bypass of the fix for CVE-2019-0195. Recap: Before the fix of CVE-2019-0195 it was possible to download arbitrary class files from the classpath by providing a crafted asset file URL. An attacker was able to download the file AppModule.class by requesting the URL http://localhost:8080/assets/something/services/AppModule.class which contains a HMAC secret key. The fix for that bug was a blacklist filter that checks if the URL ends with .class, .properties or .xml. Bypass: Unfortunately, the blacklist solution can simply be bypassed by appending a / at the end of the URL: http://localhost:8080/assets/something/services/AppModule.class/ The slash is stripped after the blacklist check and the file AppModule.class is loaded into the response. This class usually contains the HMAC secret key which is used to sign serialized Java objects. With the knowledge of that key an attacker can sign a Java gadget chain that leads to RCE (e.g. CommonsBeanUtils1 from ysoserial). Solution for this vulnerability: For Apache Tapestry 5.4.0 to 5.6.1, upgrade to 5.6.2 or later. For Apache Tapestry 5.7.0, upgrade to 5.7.1 or later.

A Java Serialization vulnerability was found in Apache Tapestry 4. Apache Tapestry 4 will attempt to deserialize the "sp" parameter even before invoking the page's validate method, leading to deserialization without authentication. Apache Tapestry 4 reached end of life in 2008 and no update to address this issue will be released. Apache Tapestry 5 versions are not vulnerable to this issue. Users of Apache Tapestry 4 should upgrade to the latest Apache Tapestry 5 version.

The code which checks HMAC in form submissions used String.equals() for comparisons, which results in a timing side channel for the comparison of the HMAC signatures. This could lead to remote code execution if an attacker is able to determine the correct signature for their payload. The comparison should be done with a constant time algorithm instead.

Manipulating classpath asset file URLs, an attacker could guess the path to a known file in the classpath and have it downloaded. If the attacker found the file with the value of the tapestry.hmac-passphrase configuration symbol, most probably the webapp's AppModule class, the value of this symbol could be used to craft a Java deserialization attack, thus running malicious injected Java code. The vector would be the t:formdata parameter from the Form component.