Overview
The cybersecurity world is constantly evolving, with new vulnerabilities surfacing almost daily. Recently, a prominent vulnerability named CVE-2025-48734 has caught the attention of cybersecurity professionals. This vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects the Apache Commons BeanUtils, a widely-used open-source library in Java development. It poses a serious threat due to its potential for system compromise or data leakage, impacting a vast number of applications and systems that depend on the Apache Commons BeanUtils.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-48734
Severity: Critical (CVSS 8.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
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Product | Affected Versions
Apache Commons BeanUtils 1.x | Before 1.11.0
Apache Commons BeanUtils 2.x | Before 2.0.0-M2
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies in the BeanIntrospector class, which was added in version 1.9.2 of Apache Commons BeanUtils, to prevent attackers from exploiting the declared class property of Java enum objects. This protection, however, was not enabled by default, leaving an opening for attackers.
If an application using Commons BeanUtils passes property paths from an external source directly to the getProperty() method of PropertyUtilsBean, an attacker can access the enum’s class loader via the “declaredClass” property. This access allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code.
Conceptual Example Code
Consider a scenario where a malicious actor submits a request to an endpoint that uses the Apache Commons BeanUtils library to process Java Bean properties. In this example, the malicious actor might craft a payload to exploit the ‘declaredClass’ property of an enum.
POST /vulnerable/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "propertyPath": "targetEnum.declaredClass" }In this scenario, the server would then process this request using the vulnerable version of Apache Commons BeanUtils. The malicious actor can then leverage this access to the class loader to execute arbitrary code, potentially leading to a full system compromise.
Recommendations for Mitigation
Users of the affected versions of Apache Commons BeanUtils are strongly advised to upgrade to version 1.11.0 for 1.x users or 2.0.0-M2 for 2.x users, as these versions contain the necessary fixes to mitigate this vulnerability.
In cases where immediate patching is not feasible, implementing a web application firewall (WAF) or intrusion detection system (IDS) can serve as temporary mitigation. However, the long-term solution is to apply the vendor patch to fully address the vulnerability.