Security Resilience

CVE-2018-14667

RCE in Redhat Enterprise Linux 5.0 … 6.0

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCRCE
Published
06 November 2018
Modified
03 November 2025
KEV Added
28 September 2023
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 0.74 99.5th 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-2018-14667 is a critical-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked in the top 0.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

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

The RichFaces Framework versions 3.x through 3.3.4 contain an Expression Language injection vulnerability in the UserResource component. The flaw resides in org.ajax4jsf.resource.UserResource$UriData and is tracked as CWE-94, allowing code injection through improper handling of serialized data. It received a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible attack conditions with no required authentication or user interaction.

A remote unauthenticated attacker can supply a crafted chain of Java serialized objects to the UserResource endpoint, resulting in arbitrary code execution on the server. The attack requires only the ability to reach the affected RichFaces application and does not depend on any authenticated session or special privileges.

Red Hat has published errata RHSA-2018:3517 and RHSA-2018:3518 that address the issue in supported products. Public references also describe the Richsploit exploitation toolkit and related disclosure activity from 2020, indicating that working proof-of-concept code has been made available.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The RichFaces Framework 3.X through 3.3.4 is vulnerable to Expression Language (EL) injection via the UserResource resource. A remote, unauthenticated attacker could exploit this to execute arbitrary code using a chain of java serialized objects via org.ajax4jsf.resource.UserResource$UriData.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
28 September 2023

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump the contents of <code>/etc/passwd</code> and <code>/etc/shadow</code> to enable offline password cracking.
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2019-7609Same vendor: Redhatboth on KEV
CVE-2025-35036Same vendor: Redhat
CVE-2019-0193Shared CWE-94both on KEV
CVE-2023-6548Shared CWE-94both on KEV
CVE-2023-25717Shared CWE-94both on KEV
CVE-2025-54068Shared CWE-94both on KEV
CVE-2019-16759Shared CWE-94both on KEV
CVE-2025-6204Shared CWE-94both on KEV
CVE-2015-1635Shared CWE-94both on KEV
CVE-2026-15410Shared CWE-94both on KEV

Affected Assets

redhat
richfaces
3.1.0 — 3.3.4
redhat
enterprise linux
5.0, 6.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.3.1

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-94

Makes persistent code injection into loaded programs impossible when the executable image itself resides on hardware-protected read-only media.

addresses: CWE-94

Dynamically generated code can be produced and executed inside the isolated chamber, preventing host compromise from code-injection payloads.

addresses: CWE-94

Validates inputs used in dynamic code generation to block injected directives.

addresses: CWE-94

Directly prevents execution of attacker-supplied code written into data memory regions.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

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

PR.PS-06 mostly match
blocks

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).

PR.DS-10 none match
blocks

PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.

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.

removes
removes
removes
removes
removes

References