CVE-2021-37579: Bypass deserialization checks in Apache Dubbo

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 6.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2021-09-09 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-502

Description

The Dubbo Provider will check the incoming request and the corresponding serialization type of this request meet the configuration set by the server. But there's an exception that the attacker can use to skip the security check (when enabled) and reaching a deserialization operation with native java serialization. Apache Dubbo 2.7.13, 3.0.2 fixed this issue by quickly fail when any unrecognized request was found.

Affected products

Apache Software Foundation Apache Dubbo: from 2.7.0 before 2.7.13; from 3.0.0 before 3.0.2 — fixed in 2.7.13, 3.0.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Apache Software Foundation Apache Dubbo 2.7.13, 3.0.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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