CVE-2015-7501 — commons-collections
CRITICALCVE-2015-7501 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in commons-collections:commons-collections. 4 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for commons-collections:commons-collections — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Apache commons collections
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
commons-collections:commons-collections☕org.apache.commons:commons-collections4☕org.apache.servicemix.bundles:org.apache.servicemix.bundles.commons-collections☕net.sourceforge.collections:collections-generic☕org.apache.servicemix.bundles:org.apache.servicemix.bundles.collections-genericReal-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
Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6.x; BPM Suite (BPMS) 6.x; BRMS 6.x and 5.x; Data Grid (JDG) 6.x; Data Virtualization (JDV) 6.x and 5.x; Enterprise Application Platform 6.x, 5.x, and 4.3.x; Fuse 6.x; Fuse Service Works (FSW) 6.x; Operations Network (JBoss ON) 3.x; Portal 6.x; SOA Platform (SOA-P) 5.x; Web Server (JWS) 3.x; Red Hat OpenShift/xPAAS 3.x; and Red Hat Subscription Asset Manager 1.3 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a crafted serialized Java object, related to the Apache Commons Collections (ACC) library.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | commons-collections:commons-collections | all versions | 3.2.2commons-collections:commons-collections:3.2.2 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.commons:commons-collections4 | all versions | 4.1org.apache.commons:commons-collections4:4.1 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.servicemix.bundles:org.apache.servicemix.bundles.commons-collections | ≥ 3.2.1 | No fix |
| ☕Maven | net.sourceforge.collections:collections-generic | all versions | No fix |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.servicemix.bundles:org.apache.servicemix.bundles.collections-generic | ≥ 4.01 | No fix |
Affected Products
data gridredhatjboss a-mqredhatjboss bpm suiteredhatjboss data virtualizationredhatjboss enterprise application platformredhatjboss enterprise brms platformredhatResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for commons-collections:commons-collections, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update commons-collections:commons-collections to 3.2.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2015-7501 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.
How to detect CVE-2015-7501
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2015-7501 -u https://target- Template
- Red Hat JBoss - Insecure Deserialization
- Severity
- critical
- Impact
- Unauthenticated remote code execution with JBoss service account privileges. Full system compromise possible including file access, credential theft, and lateral movement. Actively exploited by threat actors targeting legacy JBoss deployments.
- Remediation
- Apply Red Hat Security Advisory RHSA-2015:2538. Upgrade to JBoss EAP 7.x which removes the affected invoker servlets. Restrict access to /invoker/* endpoints via jboss-web.xml security constraints. Update Apache Commons Collections to version 3.2.2 or 4.1 or later.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (pdteam, DhiyaneshDk), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
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.
This issue affects the Apache commons-collections library as shipped with Fuse 6.2.0 and A-MQ 6.2.0. However, this flaw is not known to be exploitable under supported scenarios in these product versions, and so has been assigned an impact of Important for these products and their respective errata.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| JBoss Enterprise BRMS Platform 5.3 | jbossas | RHSA-2015:2670 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | jakarta-commons-collections-0:3.2-2jpp.4 | RHSA-2015:2671 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | jakarta-commons-collections-0:3.2.1-3.5.el6_7 | RHSA-2015:2521 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | apache-commons-collections-0:3.2.1-22.el7_2 | RHSA-2015:2522 |
| Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6.2 | see advisory | RHSA-2015:2557 |
| Red Hat JBoss BPMS 6.0 | jbossas | RHSA-2015:2579 |
| Red Hat JBoss BPMS 6.2 | jbossas | RHSA-2015:2560 |
| Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6.1 | jbossas | RHSA-2015:2578 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2015-7501 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.