CVEs / CVE-2013-0422

CVE-2013-0422: Oracle JRE Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

• Known exploited in the CISA KEV catalog since 25 May 2022
• high 10 CVSS 2.0 (NVD)
• EPSS 97% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99% of CVEs (30 Oct 2026)
• Last changed at its sources 16 Jun 2026

Summary

A vulnerability in the way Java restricts the permissions of Java applets could allow an attacker to execute commands on a vulnerable system.

Description

Multiple vulnerabilities in Oracle Java 7 before Update 11 allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by (1) using the public getMBeanInstantiator method in the JmxMBeanServer class to obtain a reference to a private MBeanInstantiator object, then retrieving arbitrary Class references using the findClass method, and (2) using the Reflection API with recursion in a way that bypasses a security check by the java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles.Lookup.checkSecurityManager method due to the inability of the sun.reflect.Reflection.getCallerClass method to skip frames related to the new reflection API, as exploited in the wild in January 2013, as demonstrated by Blackhole and Nuclear Pack, and a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-4681 and CVE-2012-3174. NOTE: some parties have mapped the recursive Reflection API issue to CVE-2012-3174, but CVE-2012-3174 is for a different vulnerability whose details are not public as of 20130114. CVE-2013-0422 covers both the JMX/MBean and Reflection API issues. NOTE: it was originally reported that Java 6 was also vulnerable, but the reporter has retracted this claim, stating that Java 6 is not exploitable because the relevant code is called in a way that does not bypass security checks. NOTE: as of 20130114, a reliable third party has claimed that the findClass/MBeanInstantiator vector was not fixed in Oracle Java 7 Update 11. If there is still a vulnerable condition, then a separate CVE identifier might be created for the unfixed issue.

Affected and fixed versions

Exploitation

Severity

References

• CVE-2013-0422 on NVD
• CVE-2013-0422 in the CISA KEV catalog
• http://blog.fireeye.com/research/2013/01/happy-new-year-from-new-java-zero-day.html Not Applicable
• http://blog.fuseyism.com/index.php/2013/01/15/security-icedtea-2-1-4-2-2-4-2-3-4-released/ Broken Link
• http://immunityproducts.blogspot.ca/2013/01/confirmed-java-only-fixed-one-of-two.html Third Party Advisory
• http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/01/zero-day-java-exploit-debuts-in-crimeware/ Third Party Advisory
• http://labs.alienvault.com/labs/index.php/2013/new-year-new-java-zeroday/ Broken Link, Third Party Advisory
• http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2013-01/msg00025.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
• http://malware.dontneedcoffee.com/2013/01/0-day-17u10-spotted-in-while-disable.html Third Party Advisory
• http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-0156.html Third Party Advisory
• http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-0165.html Third Party Advisory
• http://seclists.org/bugtraq/2013/Jan/48 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
• http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/625617 Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource
• http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2013:095 Not Applicable
• http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/alert-cve-2013-0422-1896849.html Vendor Advisory
• http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1693-1 Third Party Advisory
• http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA13-010A.html Third Party Advisory, US Government Resource
• https://partners.immunityinc.com/idocs/Java%20MBeanInstantiator.findClass%200day%20Analysis.pdf Broken Link
• https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/nasty-new-java-zero-day-found-exploit-kits-already-have-it-011013 Not Applicable
• https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Support/Advisories/MGASA-2013-0018 Third Party Advisory
• https://www-304.ibm.com/connections/blogs/PSIRT/entry/oracle_java_7_security_manager_bypass_vulnerability_cve_2013_04224?lang=en_us Not Applicable
• https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2013-0422 US Government Resource