CVE-2015-3253 — groovy
CRITICALCVE-2015-3253 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-74 vulnerability in org.codehaus.groovy:groovy. EPSS puts its 30-day exploitation probability at 41.0% (99th percentile). A fix is available for org.codehaus.groovy:groovy — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component in Apache Groovy
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2015-3253 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 10–50% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.codehaus.groovy:groovy☕org.codehaus.groovy:groovy-allReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
The MethodClosure class in runtime/MethodClosure.java in Apache Groovy 1.7.0 through 2.4.3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service via a crafted serialized object.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.codehaus.groovy:groovy | ≥ 1.7.0&&< 2.4.4 | 2.4.4org.codehaus.groovy:groovy:2.4.4 |
| ☕Maven | org.codehaus.groovy:groovy-all | ≥ 1.7.0&&< 2.4.4 | 2.4.4org.codehaus.groovy:groovy-all:2.4.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.codehaus.groovy:groovy, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.codehaus.groovy:groovy to 2.4.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2015-3253 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2015-3253 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2015-3253. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | groovy-0:1.8.9-8.el7_4 | RHSA-2017:2486 |
| Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6.2 | see advisory | RHSA-2015:2557 |
| Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6.2 | groovy-all | RHSA-2016:0066 |
| Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6.2 | see advisory | RHSA-2015:2556 |
| Red Hat JBoss Fuse Service Works 6.2 | see advisory | RHSA-2015:2558 |
| Red Hat JBoss Operations Network 3.3 | groovy-all | RHSA-2016:0118 |
| Red Hat JBoss SOA Platform 5.3 | grovy-all | RHSA-2016:1376 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | rh-maven33-groovy-0:1.8.9-7.19.el6 | RHSA-2017:2596 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2015-3253 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2015-3253 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.