Another Remote Code Execution flaw in WebLogic exploited in the wild

Oracle released emergency patches for another critical remote code execution vulnerability affecting WebLogic Server.

On Tuesday, Oracle released emergency patches for another critical remote code execution vulnerability affecting the WebLogic Server.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2019-2729, affects WebLogic versions 10.3.6.0.0, 12.1.3.0.0 and 12.2.1.3.0. The vulnerability is a remotely exploitable deserialization vulnerability via XMLDecoder in Oracle WebLogic Server Web Services, it received a CVSS score of 9.8.

A remote attacker could exploit the CVE-2019-2729 flaw without authentication. The issue was independently reported to Oracle by many security researchers.

“This Security Alert addresses CVE-2019-2729, a deserialization vulnerability via XMLDecoder in Oracle WebLogic Server Web Services. This remote code execution vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication, i.e., may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password.” reads the security advisory published by Oracle.

“Due to the severity of this vulnerability, Oracle strongly recommends that customers apply the updates provided by this Security Alert as soon as possible.”

Oracle urges its users to apply the necessary patches and also the latest Critical Patch Update (CPU).

John Heimann, VP of Security Program Management at Oracle, pointed out that the CVE-2019-2729 is different from the recently discovered CVE-2019-2725 that was exploited in cryptojacking campaigns and in hacking campaigns spreading the Sodinokibi ransomware.

“Please note that while the issue addressed by this alert is a deserialization vulnerability, like that addressed in Security Alert CVE-2019-2725, it is a distinct vulnerability.” wrote Heimann.

“Due to the severity of this vulnerability, Oracle recommends that this Security Alert be applied as soon as possible.”

According to the experts at Knownsec 404 Team who also reported the flaw, the CVE-2019-2729 is actually the result of an uncomplete patch for CVE-2019-2725. Knownsec 404 Team confirmed that threat actors are already exploiting the CVE-2019-2729 in the wild.

“Then today, a new oracle webLogic deserialization RCE 0day vulnerability was found and is being actively used in the wild.We analyzed and reproduced the 0day vulnerability, which is based on and bypasses the patch for CVE-2019–2725.” reads a post published by Knownsec 404 Team.

Knownsec 404 Team provided the following temporary solutions:

Scenario-1: Find and delete wls9_async_response.war, wls-wsat.war and restart the Weblogic service.
Scenario-2: Controls URL access for the /_async/* and /wls-wsat/* paths by access policy control.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – CVE-2019-2729, hacking)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.