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    CVE-2017-5638

    The Jakarta Multipart parser in Apache Struts 2 2.3.x before 2.3.32 and 2.5.x before 2.5.10.1 has incorrect exception handling and error-message generation during file-upload attempts, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted Content-Type, Content-Disposition, or Content-Length HTTP header, as exploited in the wild in March 2017 with a Content-Type header containing a #cmd= string.

    Published:Mar 6, 2017
    Last Modified:Apr 21, 2026
    EPS:Mar 11, 2017
    EPSS Score:0.94267
    CVSS Score:9.8

    CISA Notification

    Description

    The Jakarta Multipart parser in Apache Struts 2 2.3.x before 2.3.32 and 2.5.x before 2.5.10.1 has incorrect exception handling and error-message generation during file-upload attempts, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted Content-Type, Content-Disposition, or Content-Length HTTP header, as exploited in the wild in March 2017 with a Content-Type header containing a #cmd= string.

    Required Action:

    Apply updates per vendor instructions.

    Notes:

    No extra notes provided.

    Due Date
    May 3, 2022
    1592 days ago
    Alert Date
    Nov 3, 2021
    1773 days ago

    Affected Products

    Vendor
    Apache
    Product
    Struts
    Vendor
    Arubanetworks
    Product
    Clearpass Policy Manager
    Vendor
    Hp
    Product
    Server Automation
    Vendor
    Ibm
    Product
    Storwize V3500
    Vendor
    Ibm
    Product
    Storwize V3500 Firmware
    Vendor
    Ibm
    Product
    Storwize V5000
    Vendor
    Ibm
    Product
    Storwize V5000 Firmware
    Vendor
    Ibm
    Product
    Storwize V7000
    Vendor
    Ibm
    Product
    Storwize V7000 Firmware
    Vendor
    Lenovo
    Product
    Storage V5030
    Vendor
    Lenovo
    Product
    Storage V5030 Firmware
    Vendor
    Netapp
    Product
    Oncommand Balance
    Vendor
    Oracle
    Product
    Weblogic Server

    Exploits

    http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2017/03/apache-0-day-exploited.htmlhttp://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/cve-2017-5638-apache-struts-vulnerability-remote-code-execution/https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/03/critical-vulnerability-under-massive-attack-imperils-high-impact-sites/https://exploit-db.com/exploits/41570https://github.com/mazen160/struts-pwnhttps://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/issues/8064https://isc.sans.edu/diary/22169https://nmap.org/nsedoc/scripts/http-vuln-cve2017-5638.htmlhttps://packetstormsecurity.com/files/141494/S2-45-poc.py.txthttps://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41614/http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2017/03/apache-0-day-exploited.htmlhttp://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/cve-2017-5638-apache-struts-vulnerability-remote-code-execution/https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/03/critical-vulnerability-under-massive-attack-imperils-high-impact-sites/https://exploit-db.com/exploits/41570https://github.com/mazen160/struts-pwnhttps://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/issues/8064https://isc.sans.edu/diary/22169https://nmap.org/nsedoc/scripts/http-vuln-cve2017-5638.htmlhttps://packetstormsecurity.com/files/141494/S2-45-poc.py.txthttps://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41614/https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41570https://github.com/0x00-0x00/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/Aasron/Struts2-045-Exphttps://github.com/ACharaf06/CVE-2017-5638-Attack-and-Defensehttps://github.com/AIPEACS/SC3010-Computer-Securityhttps://github.com/aljazceru/CVE-2017-5638-Apache-Struts2https://github.com/AndreasKl/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/andypitcher/check_strutshttps://github.com/Badbird3/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/bhagdave/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/bongbongco/cve-2017-5638https://github.com/btamburi/strutszeirohttps://github.com/c002/Apache-Strutshttps://github.com/cafnet/apache-struts-v2-CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/colorblindpentester/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/donaldashdown/Common-Vulnerability-and-Exploithttps://github.com/Dungsocool/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/eeehit/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/falcon-lnhg/StrutsShellhttps://github.com/Flyteas/Struts2-045-Exphttps://github.com/FozilCV/Apache-Struts2-CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/FredBrave/CVE-2017-5638-ApacheStruts2.3.5https://github.com/ggolawski/struts-rcehttps://github.com/Greynad/struts2-jakarta-injecthttps://github.com/gsfish/S2-Reaperhttps://github.com/GU-007/struts2-toolhttps://github.com/haxerr9/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/homjxi0e/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/iampetru/PoC-CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/Iletee/struts2-rcehttps://github.com/immunio/apache-struts2-CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/initconf/CVE-2017-5638_strutshttps://github.com/injcristianrojas/cve-2017-5638https://github.com/invisiblethreat/strutserhttps://github.com/jas502n/S2-045-EXP-POC-TOOLShttps://github.com/jas502n/st2-046-pochttps://github.com/joidiego/Detection-struts-cve-2017-5638-detectorhttps://github.com/jongmartinez/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/jpacora/Struts2Shellhttps://github.com/jptr218/struts_hackhttps://github.com/jrrdev/cve-2017-5638https://github.com/jrrombaldo/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/KarzsGHR/S2-046_S2-045_POChttps://github.com/kaylertee/Computer-Security-Equifax-2017https://github.com/kloutkake/CVE-2017-5638-PoChttps://github.com/Kouf320/docker-lab-cve-2017-5638-cve-2021-41773https://github.com/leandrocamposcardoso/CVE-2017-5638-Mass-Exploithttps://github.com/lolwaleet/ExpStrutshttps://github.com/ludy-dev/XworkStruts-RCEhttps://github.com/m3ssap0/struts2_cve-2017-5638https://github.com/Majaktech/apache-struts-cve-2017-5638-projecthttps://github.com/Masahiro-Yamada/OgnlContentTypeRejectorValvehttps://github.com/mazen160/struts-pwnhttps://github.com/mcassano/cve-2017-5638https://github.com/mfdev-solution/Exploit-CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/mritunjay-k/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/mthbernardes/strutszeirohttps://github.com/MuhammadAbdullah192/CVE-2017-5638-Remote-Code-Execution-Apache-Struts2-EXPLOITATIONhttps://github.com/Nithylesh/web-application-firewall-https://github.com/oktavianto/CVE-2017-5638-Apache-Struts2https://github.com/opt9/Strutsclihttps://github.com/opt9/Strutshockhttps://github.com/payatu/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/PolarisLab/S2-045https://github.com/QHxDr-dz/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/R4v3nBl4ck/Apache-Struts-2-CVE-2017-5638-Exploit-https://github.com/random-robbie/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/readloud/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/ret2jazzy/Struts-Apache-ExploitPackhttps://github.com/riyazwalikar/struts-rce-cve-2017-5638https://github.com/sighup1/cybersecurity-struts2https://github.com/sjitech/test_struts2_vulnerability_CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/smancke/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/sonatype-workshops/struts2-rcehttps://github.com/soufiane-benchahyd/vulhub-struts2https://github.com/SpiderMate/Stutsfihttps://github.com/sUbc0ol/Apache-Struts2-RCE-Exploit-v2-CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/sUbc0ol/Apache-Struts-CVE-2017-5638-RCE-Mass-Scannerhttps://github.com/tahmed11/strutsyhttps://github.com/TamiiLambrado/Apache-Struts-CVE-2017-5638-RCE-Mass-Scannerhttps://github.com/Tankirat/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/testpilot031/vulnerability_struts-2.3.31https://github.com/timothyjxhn/DeliberatelyVulnerableWebApphttps://github.com/toothbrushsoapflannelbiscuits/cve-2017-5638https://github.com/un4ckn0wl3z/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/win3zz/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/Xernary/CVE-2017-5638-POChttps://github.com/Xhendos/CVE-2017-5638https://github.com/xsscx/cve-2017-5638https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41614

    Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

    CAPEC-10 Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables
    CAPEC-101 Server Side Include (SSI) Injection
    CAPEC-104 Cross Zone Scripting
    CAPEC-108 Command Line Execution through SQL Injection
    CAPEC-109 Object Relational Mapping Injection
    CAPEC-110 SQL Injection through SOAP Parameter Tampering
    CAPEC-120 Double Encoding
    CAPEC-13 Subverting Environment Variable Values
    CAPEC-135 Format String Injection
    CAPEC-136 LDAP Injection
    CAPEC-14 Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow
    CAPEC-153 Input Data Manipulation
    CAPEC-182 Flash Injection
    CAPEC-209 XSS Using MIME Type Mismatch
    CAPEC-22 Exploiting Trust in Client
    CAPEC-23 File Content Injection
    CAPEC-230 Serialized Data with Nested Payloads
    CAPEC-231 Oversized Serialized Data Payloads
    CAPEC-24 Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow
    CAPEC-250 XML Injection
    CAPEC-261 Fuzzing for garnering other adjacent user/sensitive data
    CAPEC-267 Leverage Alternate Encoding
    CAPEC-28 Fuzzing
    CAPEC-3 Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters
    CAPEC-31 Accessing/Intercepting/Modifying HTTP Cookies
    CAPEC-42 MIME Conversion
    CAPEC-43 Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers
    CAPEC-45 Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links
    CAPEC-46 Overflow Variables and Tags
    CAPEC-47 Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion
    CAPEC-473 Signature Spoof
    CAPEC-52 Embedding NULL Bytes
    CAPEC-53 Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash
    CAPEC-588 DOM-Based XSS
    CAPEC-63 Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
    CAPEC-64 Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic
    CAPEC-664 Server Side Request Forgery
    CAPEC-67 String Format Overflow in syslog()
    CAPEC-7 Blind SQL Injection
    CAPEC-71 Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic
    CAPEC-72 URL Encoding
    CAPEC-73 User-Controlled Filename
    CAPEC-78 Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding
    CAPEC-79 Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding
    CAPEC-8 Buffer Overflow in an API Call
    CAPEC-80 Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic
    CAPEC-81 Web Server Logs Tampering
    CAPEC-83 XPath Injection
    CAPEC-85 AJAX Footprinting
    CAPEC-88 OS Command Injection
    CAPEC-9 Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities

    Related CVEs

    CVE-2026-73632 (CVSS 4.3) — Exposure of data element to wrong session vulnerability in the JSON plugin of Apache Struts. Per-response seri…
    CVE-2026-73631 (CVSS 4.3) — Exposure of data element to wrong session vulnerability in the JSON plugin of Apache Struts. Per-request parsi…
    CVE-2026-73635 (CVSS 7.5) — Allocation of resources without limits or throttling vulnerability in Apache Struts. When no fixed locale is c…
    CVE-2026-73634 (CVSS 7.5) — Uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in Apache Struts. An application that exposes an endpoint coll…
    CVE-2026-73633 (CVSS 7.5) — Uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in the JSON plugin of Apache Struts. When an application is co…
    CVE-2025-68493 (CVSS 8.1) — Missing XML Validation vulnerability in Apache Struts, Apache Struts. This issue affects Apache Struts: from …
    CVE-2025-66675 (CVSS 8.2) — Denial of Service vulnerability in Apache Struts, file leak in multipart request processing causes disk exhaus…
    CVE-2025-64775 (CVSS 7.5) — Denial of Service vulnerability in Apache Struts, file leak in multipart request processing causes disk exhaus…
    CVE-2025-54656 (CVSS 6.5) — ** UNSUPPORTED WHEN ASSIGNED ** Improper Output Neutralization for Logs vulnerability in Apache Struts. This …
    CVE-2024-53677 (CVSS 9.5) — File upload logic in Apache Struts is flawed. An attacker can manipulate file upload params to enable paths tr…

    References

    http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2017/03/apache-0-day-exploited.html
    http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/cve-2017-5638-apache-struts-vulnerability-remote-code-execution/
    http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/alert/ARUBA-PSA-2017-002.txt
    http://www.eweek.com/security/apache-struts-vulnerability-under-attack.html
    http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2017-3236622.html
    http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96729
    http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037973
    https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/03/critical-vulnerability-under-massive-attack-imperils-high-impact-sites/
    https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/S2-045
    https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/S2-046
    https://exploit-db.com/exploits/41570
    https://git1-us-west.apache.org/repos/asf?p=struts.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=352306493971e7d5a756d61780d57a76eb1f519a
    https://git1-us-west.apache.org/repos/asf?p=struts.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=6b8272ce47160036ed120a48345d9aa884477228
    https://github.com/mazen160/struts-pwn
    https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/issues/8064
    https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbgn03733en_us
    https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbgn03749en_us
    https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbhf03723en_us
    https://isc.sans.edu/diary/22169
    https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r1125f3044a0946d1e7e6f125a6170b58d413ebd4a95157e4608041c7%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
    https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r6d03e45b81eab03580cf7f8bb51cb3e9a1b10a2cc0c6a2d3cc92ed0c%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
    https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r90890afea72a9571d666820b2fe5942a0a5f86be406fa31da3dd0922%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
    https://nmap.org/nsedoc/scripts/http-vuln-cve2017-5638.html
    https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/141494/S2-45-poc.py.txt
    https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20170310-0001/
    https://struts.apache.org/docs/s2-045.html
    https://struts.apache.org/docs/s2-046.html
    https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product_security/len-14200
    https://twitter.com/theog150/status/841146956135124993
    https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41614/
    https://www.imperva.com/blog/2017/03/cve-2017-5638-new-remote-code-execution-rce-vulnerability-in-apache-struts-2/
    https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/834067
    https://www.symantec.com/security-center/network-protection-security-advisories/SA145
    http://blog.talosintelligence.com/2017/03/apache-0-day-exploited.html
    http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/cve-2017-5638-apache-struts-vulnerability-remote-code-execution/
    http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/alert/ARUBA-PSA-2017-002.txt
    http://www.eweek.com/security/apache-struts-vulnerability-under-attack.html
    http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2017-3236622.html
    http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96729
    http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037973
    https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/03/critical-vulnerability-under-massive-attack-imperils-high-impact-sites/
    https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/S2-045
    https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/S2-046
    https://exploit-db.com/exploits/41570
    https://git1-us-west.apache.org/repos/asf?p=struts.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=352306493971e7d5a756d61780d57a76eb1f519a
    https://git1-us-west.apache.org/repos/asf?p=struts.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=6b8272ce47160036ed120a48345d9aa884477228
    https://github.com/mazen160/struts-pwn
    https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/issues/8064
    https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbgn03733en_us
    https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbgn03749en_us
    https://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=en_US&docId=emr_na-hpesbhf03723en_us
    https://isc.sans.edu/diary/22169
    https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r1125f3044a0946d1e7e6f125a6170b58d413ebd4a95157e4608041c7%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
    https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r6d03e45b81eab03580cf7f8bb51cb3e9a1b10a2cc0c6a2d3cc92ed0c%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
    https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r90890afea72a9571d666820b2fe5942a0a5f86be406fa31da3dd0922%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
    https://nmap.org/nsedoc/scripts/http-vuln-cve2017-5638.html
    https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/141494/S2-45-poc.py.txt
    https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20170310-0001/
    https://struts.apache.org/docs/s2-045.html
    https://struts.apache.org/docs/s2-046.html
    https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/product_security/len-14200
    https://twitter.com/theog150/status/841146956135124993
    https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41614/
    https://www.imperva.com/blog/2017/03/cve-2017-5638-new-remote-code-execution-rce-vulnerability-in-apache-struts-2/
    https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/834067
    https://www.symantec.com/security-center/network-protection-security-advisories/SA145
    https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2017-5638

    Common Vulnerability Scoring System

    Attack Vector
    Network
    Adjacent
    Local
    Physical
    Privileges Required
    None
    Low
    High
    User Interaction
    None
    Required
    Scope
    Unchanged
    Changed
    Confidentiality
    None
    Low
    High
    Integrity
    None
    Low
    High
    Availability
    None
    Low
    High