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Attack Surface Analysis for jodaorg/joda-time

Attack Surface: Deserialization of Untrusted Data

  • Description: Deserialization is the process of reconstructing an object from a byte stream. When untrusted data is deserialized, attackers can inject malicious code.
  • Joda-Time Contribution: Joda-Time's object model and serialization mechanisms, particularly in older versions, contain classes and methods that can be exploited during deserialization to achieve arbitrary code execution. This is due to the way Joda-Time handles object reconstruction.
  • Example: An attacker sends a serialized Joda-Time DateTime object as part of a request. This object is crafted to contain a "gadget chain" – a sequence of class instantiations and method calls that, upon deserialization, execute malicious code (e.g., opening a network connection, running a system command).
  • Impact: Remote Code Execution (RCE), complete system compromise. The attacker gains full control over the application and potentially the underlying server.
  • Risk Severity: Critical
  • Mitigation Strategies:
    1. Primary Mitigation (Strongly Recommended): Migrate to java.time (the standard Java date/time API). java.time was designed with security in mind and is significantly less vulnerable to deserialization attacks.
    2. If Migration is Not Immediately Feasible:
      • Avoid Deserialization of Untrusted Data: Never deserialize Joda-Time objects received from external, untrusted sources. This is the most important preventative measure.
      • Input Validation and Transformation: If you must receive date/time information from an external source, receive it in a simple, well-defined format (e.g., ISO 8601 string) and parse it after validating the input. Do not accept serialized objects.
      • Whitelist-Based Deserialization (Last Resort): If deserialization is absolutely unavoidable, implement a strict whitelist of allowed classes. This is extremely complex and error-prone, requiring deep understanding of Joda-Time and potential gadget chains. It's also fragile and may break with library updates.
      • Use Latest Joda-Time Version: Always use the most recent version of Joda-Time, as it may contain patches for known vulnerabilities. However, this is not a complete solution on its own.
      • Security Monitoring: Implement robust logging and monitoring to detect attempts to exploit deserialization vulnerabilities. Look for unusual class instantiations or exceptions during deserialization.