GeoServer - RCE (CVE-2024-36401)
1000Exploiting IPs reported
GeoServer is an open source server that allows users to share and edit geospatial data. Prior to versions 2.23.6, 2.24.4, and 2.25.2, multiple OGC request parameters allow Remote Code Execution (RCE) by unauthenticated users through specially crafted input against a default GeoServer installation due to unsafely evaluating property names as XPath expressions. The GeoTools library API that GeoServer calls evaluates property/attribute names for feature types in a way that unsafely passes them to the commons-jxpath library which can execute arbitrary code when evaluating XPath expressions. This XPath evaluation is intended to be used only by complex feature types (i.e., Application Schema data stores) but is incorrectly being applied to simple feature types as well which makes this vulnerability apply to **ALL** GeoServer instances. No public PoC is provided but this vulnerability has been confirmed to be exploitable through WFS GetFeature, WFS GetPropertyValue, WMS GetMap, WMS GetFeatureInfo, WMS GetLegendGraphic and WPS Execute requests. This vulnerability can lead to executing arbitrary code. Versions 2.23.6, 2.24.4, and 2.25.2 contain a patch for the issue. A workaround exists by removing the `gt-complex-x.y.jar` file from the GeoServer where `x.y` is the GeoTools version (e.g., `gt-complex-31.1.jar` if running GeoServer 2.25.1). This will remove the vulnerable code from GeoServer but may break some GeoServer functionality or prevent GeoServer from deploying if the gt-complex module is needed.
CrowdSec analysis
CVE-2024-36401 is a critical vulnerability impacting GeoServer, allowing unauthenticated attackers to achieve remote code execution by leveraging unsafe evaluation of certain request parameters within geospatial services.
CrowdSec has been tracking this vulnerability and its exploits since 10th of March 2025.
CrowdSec network data shows that most actors exploiting CVE-2024-36401 rely on broad, untargeted scans with minimal filtering. The activity is largely automated and opportunistic in nature. Data from the CrowdSec community also indicates a gradual decrease in attacks targeting CVE-2024-36401. While still present in the wild, exploitation levels have dropped noticeably week-over-week. This may signal that the vulnerability is becoming less relevant or that defenses are improving fast enough for attackers to lose interest.
Observed attack patterns often involve requests to URLs containing /geoserver/web or /geoserver/wfs.
Exploitation
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Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Protection
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Blocklist
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