Security Resilience

CVE-2013-0422

Oracle Jdk 1.7.0

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedRansomware-linked
Published
10 January 2013
Modified
21 April 2026
KEV Added
25 May 2022
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.97 99.9th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2013-0422 is a critical-severity Improper Access Control (CWE-284) vulnerability in Oracle Jdk. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

Multiple vulnerabilities in Oracle Java 7 before Update 11 affect the JMX MBeanServer and the Reflection API. The first issue allows code to call the public getMBeanInstantiator method of JmxMBeanServer to obtain a reference to a private MBeanInstantiator object and then invoke its findClass method to retrieve arbitrary Class references. The second issue permits recursive use of the Reflection API to bypass a security manager check inside java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles.Lookup.checkSecurityManager because sun.reflect.Reflection.getCallerClass does not skip frames belonging to the new reflection implementation.

Remote attackers can deliver malicious Java content through web pages or documents to exploit either vector and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Java process. Both issues were observed being exploited in the wild in January 2013 by the Blackhole and Nuclear Pack exploit kits.

Public advisories and vendor updates, including IcedTea releases 2.1.4/2.2.4/2.3.4, recommend upgrading to Java 7 Update 11 or later; however, at least one analysis indicated that the findClass/MBeanInstantiator path may have remained exploitable after that update. The vulnerabilities were actively used in crimeware campaigns shortly after disclosure and were distinct from the earlier issues tracked as CVE-2012-4681 and CVE-2012-3174.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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…

more

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.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
25 May 2022

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2013-2423Same product: Canonical Ubuntu Linuxboth on KEV
CVE-2011-3544Same product: Canonical Ubuntu Linuxboth on KEV
CVE-2012-4681Same product: Oracle Jdkboth on KEV
CVE-2015-4902Same product: Opensuse Opensuseboth on KEV
CVE-2012-1723Same product: Oracle Jdkboth on KEV
CVE-2012-5076Same product: Oracle Jreboth on KEV
CVE-2016-3427Same product: Canonical Ubuntu Linuxboth on KEV
CVE-2026-21962Same vendor: Oracleboth on KEV
CVE-2026-47035Same product: Oracle Jdk
CVE-2026-47030Same product: Oracle Jdk

Affected Assets

oracle
jdk
1.7.0
oracle
jre
1.7.0
canonical
ubuntu linux
12.10
opensuse
opensuse
12.2

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-284

The access control policy and procedures directly mandate and enforce proper access control mechanisms across the organization.

addresses: CWE-284

Device lock enforces restricted access until re-authentication, directly reducing unauthorized use of active sessions.

addresses: CWE-284

Supervision and review of access control activities directly detects and remediates improper access configurations or usages.

addresses: CWE-284

Explicitly identifying and documenting actions permitted without identification or authentication enforces proper access control boundaries by defining justified exceptions.

addresses: CWE-284

By automatically labeling outputs with security attributes, the control supports attribute-based enforcement and reduces exploitability of improper access control weaknesses.

addresses: CWE-284

Associating and retaining security attributes with data directly supports enforcement of access control decisions across storage, processing, and transmission.

addresses: CWE-284

Requiring prior authorization for each remote access type prevents improper access control over remote connections.

addresses: CWE-284

Requiring authorization of wireless access before allowing connections enforces proper access control for this access method.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

blocks

A.5.1 only requires that an information security policy and topic-specific policies (including on access control) exist and are reviewed; it does not itself enforce, implement or act on any access restriction, so the weakness can still be exploited (per the owner's explicit rule that governance/dependency clauses score none on effect verbs).

blocks

A.5.15 directly mandates determining requirements, defining/implementing topic-specific access control policy+rules (with explicit references to 8.3, 5.16, 5.18), and enforcing authorized access while preventing unauthorized access, which squarely stops exploitation of most CWE-284 instances; the bounded remainder is the physical slice (explicitly delegated to 7.2-7.4) plus any second-order defects like path traversal that are not authorization decisions.

blocks

A.5.16's identity lifecycle (unique binding, timely disable/remove, no duplicates, oversight of shared/non-human) directly stops most improper access by ensuring the actor in an access decision is correctly identified and authorized; the bounded remainder is non-identity mechanisms in CWE-284 such as path traversal or CSRF that do not turn on actor identity at all.

blocks

A.5.18 directly governs the provisioning, review, adjustment and timely revocation of both physical and logical access rights per business rules, segregation of duties and risk-evaluated changes/terminations; this stops most unauthorized-actor exploitation paths named by CWE-284, with a bounded remainder (e.g. path-traversal or CSRF cases that are not authorization decisions at all)

blocks

A.5.2 defines and assigns roles/responsibilities for protection of information and risk acceptance; it does not itself enforce any access decision and cannot stop exploitation of improper access control (per the owner's labeling rule: governance/dependency clauses do not score on prevent/mitigate verbs)

finds

Ongoing audits and performance reviews of suppliers detect and correct situations where access controls or privilege assignments are weaker than contractually required, limiting an attacker's ability to exploit improper access control in the supplier's environment.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-284, a pillar-level weakness. Rules are authored against its narrower children: CWE-749, CWE-1220.

References