Your RSA-2048 keys break in 2030. Find every one of them before attackers do.
☕
☕ Maven
Not in CISA KEV
HIGH severity

GHSA-5r8j-qmcm-7g7q — uimaj

HIGH

GHSA-5r8j-qmcm-7g7q is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in org.apache.uima:uimaj. A fix is available for org.apache.uima:uimaj — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Apache UIMA Java SDK Deserialization of Untrusted Data, Improper Input Validation vulnerability

Also known asCVE-2023-39913
Published
Nov 8, 2023
Updated
Feb 13, 2025
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Sep 26, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

  • A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
  • CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-5r8j-qmcm-7g7q.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
1.5%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs73th percentile — riskier than 73% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

GHSA-5r8j-qmcm-7g7q by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 379,842 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
☕org.apache.uima:uimaj

Real-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, Improper Input Validation vulnerability in Apache UIMA Java SDK, Apache UIMA Java SDK, Apache UIMA Java SDK, Apache UIMA Java SDK.This issue affects Apache UIMA Java SDK: before 3.5.0.

Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.5.0, which fixes the issue.

There are several locations in the code where serialized Java objects are deserialized without verifying the data. This affects in particular:

  • the deserialization of a Java-serialized CAS, but also other binary CAS formats that include TSI information using the CasIOUtils class;
  • the CAS Editor Eclipse plugin which uses the the CasIOUtils class to load data;
  • the deserialization of a Java-serialized CAS of the Vinci Analysis Engine service which can receive using Java-serialized CAS objects over network connections;
  • the CasAnnotationViewerApplet and the CasTreeViewerApplet;
  • the checkpointing feature of the CPE module.

Note that the UIMA framework by default does not start any remotely accessible services (i.e. Vinci) that would be vulnerable to this issue. A user or developer would need to make an active choice to start such a service. However, users or developers may use the CasIOUtils in their own applications and services to parse serialized CAS data. They are affected by this issue unless they ensure that the data passed to CasIOUtils is not a serialized Java object.

When using Vinci or using CasIOUtils in own services/applications, the unrestricted deserialization of Java-serialized CAS files may allow arbitrary (remote) code execution.

As a remedy, it is possible to set up a global or context-specific ObjectInputFilter (cf. https://openjdk.org/jeps/290  and  https://openjdk.org/jeps/415 ) if running UIMA on a Java version that supports it.

Note that Java 1.8 does not support the ObjectInputFilter, so there is no remedy when running on this out-of-support platform. An upgrade to a recent Java version is strongly recommended if you need to secure an UIMA version that is affected by this issue.

To mitigate the issue on a Java 9+ platform, you can configure a filter pattern through the "jdk.serialFilter" system property using a semicolon as a separator:

To allow deserializing Java-serialized binary CASes, add the classes:

  • org.apache.uima.cas.impl.CASCompleteSerializer
  • org.apache.uima.cas.impl.CASMgrSerializer
  • org.apache.uima.cas.impl.CASSerializer
  • java.lang.String

To allow deserializing CPE Checkpoint data, add the following classes (and any custom classes your application uses to store its checkpoints):

  • org.apache.uima.collection.impl.cpm.CheckpointData
  • org.apache.uima.util.ProcessTrace
  • org.apache.uima.util.impl.ProcessTrace_impl
  • org.apache.uima.collection.base_cpm.SynchPoint

Make sure to use "!*" as the final component to the filter pattern to disallow deserialization of any classes not listed in the pattern.

Apache UIMA 3.5.0 uses tightly scoped ObjectInputFilters when reading Java-serialized data depending on the type of data being expected. Configuring a global filter is not necessary with this version.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
☕Mavenorg.apache.uima:uimajall versions3.5.0org.apache.uima:uimaj:3.5.0

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations
Application
uimajapache
< 3.5.0
range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.uima:uimaj, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update org.apache.uima:uimaj to 3.5.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-5r8j-qmcm-7g7q is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Deserialization of Untrusted Data, Improper Input Validation vulnerability in Apache UIMA Java SDK. This issue affects Apache UIMA Java SDK before 3.5.0. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.5.0, which fixes the issue. There are several locations in the code where serialized Java objects are deserialized without verifying the data. This affects in particular: * the deserialization of a Java-serialized CAS, but also other binary CAS formats that include TSI information using the CasIOUtils class; * the CAS Editor Eclipse plugin which uses the the CasIOUtils class to load data;
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-5r8j-qmcm-7g7q in your dependencies?

Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works