GHSA-88m4-h43f-wx84
PMD Designer's release key passphrase (GPG) available on Maven Central in cleartext
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Blast Radius
net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-designer☕net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-ui☕net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-coreReal-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
Summary
While rebuilding PMD Designer for Reproducible Builds and digging into issues, I found out that passphrase for gpg.keyname=0xD0BF1D737C9A1C22 is included in jar published to Maven Central.
Details
I removed 2 lines from https://github.com/jvm-repo-rebuild/reproducible-central/blob/master/content/net/sourceforge/pmd/pmd-designer/pmd-designer-7.0.0.diffoscope but real content is:
├── net/sourceforge/pmd/util/fxdesigner/designer.properties
│ @@ -1,14 +1,12 @@
│ #Properties
│ checkstyle.plugin.version=3.3.1
│ checkstyle.version=10.14.0
│ -gpg.keyname=0xD0BF1D737C9A1C22
│ -gpg.passphrase=evicx0nuPfvSVhVyeXpw
│ jar.plugin.version=3.3.0
│ -java.version=11.0.22
│ +java.version=11.0.25
│ javadoc.plugin.version=3.6.3
│ jflex-output=/home/runner/work/pmd-designer/pmd-designer/target/generated-sources/jflex
│ junit5.version=5.8.2
│ kotest.version=5.5.5
│ kotlin.version=1.7.20
│ local.lib.repo=/home/runner/work/pmd-designer/pmd-designer/lib/mvn-repo
│ openjfx.scope=provided
PoC
./rebuild.sh content/net/sourceforge/pmd/pmd-designer/pmd-designer-7.0.0.buildspec
Impact
After further analysis, the passphrase of the following two keys have been compromised:
94A5 2756 9CAF 7A47 AFCA BDE4 86D3 7ECA 8C2E 4C5B: PMD Designer (Release Signing Key) [email protected] This key has been used since 2019 with the release of net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-ui:6.14.0. The following versions are signed with the same key: 6.16.0, 6.17.0, 6.19.0.EBB2 41A5 45CB 17C8 7FAC B2EB D0BF 1D73 7C9A 1C22: PMD Release Signing Key [email protected] This key has been used since 2020 with the release of net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-ui:6.21.0 and all the other modules of PMD such as net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-core:6.21.0.
This key has also been used for PMD 7, for the designer, e.g. net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-designer:7.0.0 and net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-core:7.0.0. The versions between 6.21.0 and 7.9.0 are signed with this key.
Additionally the key has been used to sign the last release of PMD Eclipse Plugin 7.9.0.v20241227-1626-r.
The keys have been used exclusively for signing artifacts that we published to Maven Central under group id net.sourceforge.pmd and once for our pmd-eclipse-plugin. The private key itself is not known to have been compromised itself, but given its passphrase is, it must also be considered potentially compromised.
As a mitigation, both compromised keys have been revoked so that no future use of the keys are possible.
For future releases of PMD, PMD Designer and PMD Eclipse Plugin we use a new release signing key:
2EFA 55D0 785C 31F9 56F2 F87E A0B5 CA1A 4E08 6838 (PMD Release Signing Key [email protected]).
Note, that the published artifacts in Maven Central under the group id net.sourceforge.pmd are not
compromised and the signatures are valid. No other past usages of the private key is known to the project
and no future use is possible due to the revocation. If anybody finds a past abuse of the private key,
please share with us.
Note, the module net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-ui has been renamed to net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-designer since PMD 7, so there won't be a fixed version for pmd-ui.
Fixes
- Reworked build script in PMD Designer to not include all system properties
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-designer | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.10.0 | 7.10.0 |
| ☕Maven | net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-ui | ≥ 6.14.0 | No fix |
| ☕Maven | net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-core | ≥ 6.21.0&&< 7.10.0 | 7.10.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-designer. 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 net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd-designer to 7.10.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-88m4-h43f-wx84 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 GHSA-88m4-h43f-wx84 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 GHSA-88m4-h43f-wx84. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-88m4-h43f-wx84 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-88m4-h43f-wx84 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.