Skip to content
Fencer Intel
high 7.2

CVE-2016-4978 json

Apache ActiveMQ Artemis RCE Via Deserialization Gadget Chain

published 2016-09-27 10 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also GHSA-r9vv-xj4w-g8m8 , EUVD-2022-5142

cvss
7.2
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
6.9%
EPSS 6.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 94%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The getObject method of the javax.jms.ObjectMessage class in the (1) JMS Core client, (2) Artemis broker, and (3) Artemis REST component in Apache ActiveMQ Artemis before 1.4.0 might allow remote authenticated users with permission to send messages to the Artemis broker to deserialize arbitrary objects and execute arbitrary code by leveraging gadget classes being present on the Artemis classpath.

Patch / fix

  • maven org.apache.activemq:artemis-pom 1.4.0
  • apache artemis 1.4.0
  • hornetq jboss enterprise application platform 6 2.3.25-26.SP24_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7
  • jbossts jboss enterprise application platform 6 1:4.17.43-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7
  • jgroups jboss enterprise application platform 6 1:3.2.18-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7
  • jbossweb jboss enterprise application platform 6 7.5.28-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7
  • picketbox jboss enterprise application platform 6 4.1.7-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7
  • jboss-as-ee jboss enterprise application platform 6 7.5.20-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7
  • lucene-solr jboss enterprise application platform 6 3.6.2-8.redhat_9.1.ep6.el7
  • jboss-as-cli jboss enterprise application platform 6 7.5.20-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2018:1448RHSA-2018:1449RHSA-2018:1450RHSA-2017:3458RHSA-2018:1451RHSA-2017:3455

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2016-4978 updated cvss 6.6

Artemis: Deserialization of untrusted input vulnerability

  • Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 Artemis Artemis
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat JBoss BRMS 5 hornetq hornetq
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat JBoss Data Grid 6 hornetq hornetq
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat JBoss Fuse Service Works 6 hornetq hornetq
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat JBoss Operations Network 3 hornetq hornetq Red Hat JBoss Portal 6 hornetq hornetq
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat JBoss SOA Platform 5 hornetq hornetq
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Satellite 6 hornetq
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat Subscription Asset Manager hornetq
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
show 11 more
  • Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.0
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1836
  • Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:3456
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:1447
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 for RHEL 5 Server lucene-solr 3.6.2-8.redhat_9.1.ep6.el5, hornetq 2.3.25-26.SP24_redhat_1.1.ep6.el5, jgroups 3.2.18-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el5, jbossts 4.17.43-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el5, jbossweb 7.5.28-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el5, picketbox 4.1.7-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el5, +68 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:1450
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 for RHEL 6 Server lucene-solr 3.6.2-8.redhat_9.1.ep6.el6, hornetq 2.3.25-26.SP24_redhat_1.1.ep6.el6, jgroups 3.2.18-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el6, jbossts 4.17.43-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el6, jbossweb 7.5.28-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el6, picketbox 4.1.7-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el6, +70 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:1449
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6.4 for RHEL 7 Server lucene-solr 3.6.2-8.redhat_9.1.ep6.el7, hornetq 2.3.25-26.SP24_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7, jgroups 3.2.18-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7, jbossts 4.17.43-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7, jbossweb 7.5.28-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7, picketbox 4.1.7-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep6.el7, +68 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:1448
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.0 for RHEL 6 Server eap7-wildfly 7.0.7-4.GA_redhat_3.1.ep7.el6, eap7-resteasy 3.0.19-6.SP4_redhat_1.1.ep7.el6, eap7-jboss-ec2-eap 7.0.7-1.GA_redhat_1.ep7.el6, eap7-hibernate 5.0.14-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep7.el6, eap7-jackson-databind 2.5.4-2.redhat_2.1.ep7.el6, eap7-ironjacamar 1.3.7-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep7.el6, +53 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1834
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.0 for RHEL 7 Server eap7-wildfly 7.0.7-4.GA_redhat_3.1.ep7.el7, eap7-resteasy 3.0.19-6.SP4_redhat_1.1.ep7.el7, eap7-jboss-ec2-eap 7.0.7-1.GA_redhat_1.ep7.el7, eap7-hibernate 5.0.14-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep7.el7, eap7-jackson-databind 2.5.4-2.redhat_2.1.ep7.el7, eap7-ironjacamar 1.3.7-1.Final_redhat_1.1.ep7.el7, +53 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1837
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.1 for RHEL 6 Server eap7-ecj 4.6.1-1.redhat_1.1.ep7.el6, eap7-vdx 1.1.6-1.redhat_1.1.ep7.el6, eap7-xom 1.2.10-2.redhat_1.1.ep7.el6, eap7-jaxen 1.1.6-3.redhat_1.1.ep7.el6, eap7-jsoup 1.8.3-3.redhat_2.1.ep7.el6, eap7-antlr 2.7.7-35.redhat_7.1.ep7.el6, +281 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:3454
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.1 for RHEL 7 Server eap7-ecj 4.6.1-1.redhat_1.1.ep7.el7, eap7-vdx 1.1.6-1.redhat_1.1.ep7.el7, eap7-xom 1.2.10-2.redhat_1.1.ep7.el7, eap7-jaxen 1.1.6-3.redhat_1.1.ep7.el7, eap7-jsoup 1.8.3-3.redhat_2.1.ep7.el7, eap7-antlr 2.7.7-35.redhat_7.1.ep7.el7, +281 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:3458
  • Red Hat BPM Suite 6 hornetq hornetq Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6 hornetq hornetq Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6 hornetq hornetq Red Hat Single Sign-On 7 hornetq hornetq
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

6.88% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 94% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 7.2 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 6.0 AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P
GitHub 3.1 7.2 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
maven org.apache.activemq:artemis-pom
<1.4.0
1.4.0

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.