Security Resilience

CVE-2023-41331

RCE in Sofastack Sofarpc ≤ 5.11.0

RCE
Published
12 September 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View 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 0.016 76th percentile
Risk Priority 78 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-2023-41331 is a critical-severity Expression Language Injection (CWE-917) vulnerability in Sofastack Sofarpc. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 24% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV 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.

SOFARPC is a Java RPC framework that uses deserialization of untrusted data during remote procedure calls. Versions prior to 5.11.0 rely on an incomplete blacklist to block dangerous classes, allowing attackers to chain native JDK classes and common third-party libraries into gadget chains that enable JNDI injection or arbitrary system command execution. The vulnerability is tracked as CWE-917 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can supply a crafted serialized payload to any exposed SOFARPC endpoint. Successful exploitation grants full control over the target process, including the ability to execute operating-system commands or perform JNDI-based lookups that can load attacker-controlled classes.

The official fix is included in release 5.11.0. The project advisory and release notes also document a workaround that extends the serialization blacklist by setting the JVM argument -Drpc_serialize_blacklist_override=javax.sound.sampled.AudioFileFormat. The associated EPSS score has remained flat at 0.0519 with no material increase after disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

SOFARPC is a Java RPC framework. Versions prior to 5.11.0 are vulnerable to remote command execution. Through a carefully crafted payload, an attacker can achieve JNDI injection or system command execution. In the default configuration of the SOFARPC framework, a…

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blacklist is used to filter out dangerous classes encountered during the deserialization process. However, the blacklist is not comprehensive, and an actor can exploit certain native JDK classes and common third-party packages to construct gadget chains capable of achieving JNDI injection or system command execution attacks. Version 5.11.0 contains a fix for this issue. As a workaround, users can add `-Drpc_serialize_blacklist_override=javax.sound.sampled.AudioFileFormat` to the blacklist.

CWE(s)
CWE-917

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
attack.mitre.org →
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.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1016.002 Wi-Fi Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may search for information about Wi-Fi networks, such as network names and passwords, on compromised systems.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-23636Same product: Sofastack Sofarpc
CVE-2025-41253Shared CWE-917
CVE-2026-11561Shared CWE-917
CVE-2026-41729Shared CWE-917
CVE-2026-87830Shared CWE-917
CVE-2025-3322Shared CWE-917
CVE-2022-26134Shared CWE-917
CVE-2026-40985Shared CWE-917
CVE-2026-2587Shared CWE-917
CVE-2026-41717Shared CWE-917

Affected Assets

sofastack
sofarpc
≤ 5.11.0

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)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.3.2
  • V1.3.5
  • V4.3.1

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 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require input neutralization and safe EL construction to prevent injection flaws.

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.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.5.3 Segregation of duties partial match
removes

References