CVE-2019-17570 — xmlrpc
CRITICALCVE-2019-17570 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in org.apache.xmlrpc:xmlrpc. 5 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime.
Insecure Deserialization in Apache XML-RPC
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
org.apache.xmlrpc:xmlrpcReal-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
An untrusted deserialization was found in the org.apache.xmlrpc.parser.XmlRpcResponseParser:addResult method of Apache XML-RPC (aka ws-xmlrpc) library. A malicious XML-RPC server could target a XML-RPC client causing it to execute arbitrary code.
Apache XML-RPC is no longer maintained and this issue will not be fixed.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.xmlrpc:xmlrpc | all versions | No fix |
Affected Products
xml-rpcapacheubuntu linuxcanonicaldebian linuxdebianfedorafedoraprojectsoftware collectionsredhatResearch 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 org.apache.xmlrpc:xmlrpc, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
The records we use list no patched version of org.apache.xmlrpc:xmlrpc for CVE-2019-17570. Check the maintainer's advisory, and where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range.
Mitigate without a patch
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.
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.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 provides vulnerable version of xmlrpc via the Optional repository. As the Optional repository is not supported, this issue is not planned to be addressed there. Red Hat Virtualization Manager uses xmlrpc only for internal communication with the scheduler. Since this is a component of the…
There is no known mitigation other than restricting applications using the Apache XMLRPC client library from sending requests to untrusted XMLRPC servers.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2019-17570 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Fuse 7.6.0 | camel-xmlrpc | RHSA-2020:0983 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | rh-java-common-xmlrpc-1:3.1.3-8.17.el6 | RHSA-2020:0310 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2019-17570 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.