CVE-2023-34036
MEDIUMCVE-2023-34036 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-644 vulnerability in org.springframework.hateoas:spring-hateoas. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2023-34036 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Forwarded header exploit with Spring HATEOAS on WebFlux
Blast Radius
org.springframework.hateoas:spring-hateoas☕org.springframework.hateoas:spring-hateoas☕org.springframework.hateoas:spring-hateoasReal-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
Reactive web applications that use Spring HATEOAS to produce hypermedia-based responses might be exposed to malicious forwarded headers if they are not behind a trusted proxy that ensures correctness of such headers, or if they don't have anything else in place to handle (and possibly discard) forwarded headers either in WebFlux or at the level of the underlying HTTP server.
For the application to be affected, it needs to satisfy the following requirements:
- It needs to use the reactive web stack (Spring WebFlux) and Spring HATEOAS to create links in hypermedia-based responses.
- The application infrastructure does not guard against clients submitting (X-)Forwarded… headers.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.springframework.hateoas:spring-hateoas | all versions | 1.5.5 |
| ☕Maven | org.springframework.hateoas:spring-hateoas | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.0.5 | 2.0.5 |
| ☕Maven | org.springframework.hateoas:spring-hateoas | ≥ 2.1.0&&< 2.1.1 | 2.1.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.springframework.hateoas:spring-hateoas. 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.springframework.hateoas:spring-hateoas to 1.5.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-34036 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-2023-34036 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-2023-34036. 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-2023-34036 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-34036 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.