Threats / Red Hat / CVE-2017-12149
CVE-2017-12149
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Red Hat JBoss Application Server vulnerability
JBoss Application Server in Red Hat Enterprise Application Platform 5.2 allows remote code execution through deserialization of untrusted serialized data.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
Unsafe deserialization vulnerability enabling arbitrary code execution. High exploitation prevalence with active ransomware deployment. Affects JBoss Application Server deployments requiring immediate patching.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-12-105Ransomware use Flagged5EPSS 0.90713 (verify live)6Exploit Weaponized · public PoC7CVSS 9.8 (CISA)4CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: total4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
86 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-12-10), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.90713 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 9.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Red Hat, JBoss Application Server. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data — weakness family: Injection.CWE — CNA-assigned (CVE.org); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 1528 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a public proof-of-concept / detection template). Catalog entries: Metasploit module, nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft malicious serialized Java objects designed to execute code during deserialization.
Business
Attackers gain initial remote code execution capability against exposed JBoss instances.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I send the serialized payload to the vulnerable JBoss server, which deserializes it without validation.
Business
The application server processes untrusted data, triggering arbitrary command execution with server privileges.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I establish persistence and lateral movement within the compromised environment.
Business
Attackers deploy ransomware across the infrastructure, encrypting critical business data and systems.
4
Data at risk — exfiltration narrative 4
Attacker
I exfiltrate sensitive data and demand ransom payment.
Business
Organization faces operational shutdown, data loss, regulatory fines, and reputational damage.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05