CVE-2023-28754
HIGHCVE-2023-28754 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in org.apache.shardingsphere:shardingsphere. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2023-28754 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
ShardingSphere-Agent: Deserialization vulnerability in ShardingSphere Agent
Blast Radius
org.apache.shardingsphere:shardingsphereReal-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
Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in Apache ShardingSphere-Agent, which allows attackers to execute arbitrary code by constructing a special YAML configuration file.
The attacker needs to have permission to modify the ShardingSphere Agent YAML configuration file on the target machine, and the target machine can access the URL with the arbitrary code JAR. An attacker can use SnakeYAML to deserialize java.net.URLClassLoader and make it load a JAR from a specified URL, and then deserialize javax.script.ScriptEngineManager to load code using that ClassLoader. When the ShardingSphere JVM process starts and uses the ShardingSphere-Agent, the arbitrary code specified by the attacker will be executed during the deserialization of the YAML configuration file by the Agent.
This issue affects ShardingSphere-Agent: through 5.3.2. This vulnerability is fixed in Apache ShardingSphere 5.4.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.shardingsphere:shardingsphere | all versions | 5.4.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.shardingsphere:shardingsphere. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update org.apache.shardingsphere:shardingsphere to 5.4.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-28754 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 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-28754 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2023-28754. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-28754 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-28754 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.