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OpenAdvisories
Medium · 6.8 Public exploit CVE-2020-26259 EUVD-2020-1497GHSA-jfvx-7wrx-43fh

XStream is vulnerable to an Arbitrary File Deletion on the local host when unmarshalling

Published Dec 16, 2020 · Updated Oct 7, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Vendor: x-stream Product: xstream Package: com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream Package: libxstream-java Package: libxstream-java Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Maven Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

XStream is a Java library to serialize objects to XML and back again. In XStream before version 1.4.15, is vulnerable to an Arbitrary File Deletion on the local host when unmarshalling. The vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to delete arbitrary know files on the host as log as the executing process has sufficient rights only by manipulating the processed input stream. If you rely on XStream's default blacklist of the Security Framework, you will have to use at least version 1.4.15. The reported vulnerability does not exist running Java 15 or higher. No user is affected, who followed the recommendation to setup XStream's Security Framework with a whitelist! Anyone relying on XStream's default blacklist can immediately switch to a whilelist for the allowed types to avoid the vulnerability. Users of XStream 1.4.14 or below who still want to use XStream default blacklist can use a workaround described in more detailed in the referenced advisories.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
x-stream xstream < 1.4.15 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

Debian

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 libxstream-java 1.4.15-1 —
Debian 13 libxstream-java 1.4.15-1 —
Debian 12 libxstream-java 1.4.15-1 —
Debian 10 libxstream-java 1.4.11.1-1+deb10u2 DSA-4828-1
Debian 9 libxstream-java 1.4.11.1-1+deb9u1 DLA-2507-1

Ubuntu

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS libxstream-java 1.4.11.1-1ubuntu0.1 USN-4943-1, USN-4714-1
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS libxstream-java 1.4.11.1-1~18.04.1 USN-4943-1, USN-4714-1
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS libxstream-java 1.4.8-1ubuntu0.1+esm3 USN-6978-1
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS libxstream-java 1.4.7-1ubuntu0.1+esm2 USN-6978-1

SUSE

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP2 xstream 1.4.15-3.3.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0176-1
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 cobbler 3.0.0+git20190806.32c4bae0-5.6.4 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 grafana-formula 0.4.0-3.6.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 mgr-libmod 4.1.7-3.16.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 mgr-osad 4.1.5-2.9.4 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 prometheus-exporters-formula 0.9.0-3.19.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 prometheus-formula 0.3.1-3.6.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 py26-compat-salt 2016.11.10-6.11.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 rhnlib 4.1.3-4.3.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 smdba 1.7.8-0.3.6.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 spacewalk-backend 4.1.21-4.22.7 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 spacewalk-client-tools 4.1.9-4.12.4 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 spacewalk-config 4.1.5-3.3.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 spacewalk-java 4.1.30-3.31.7 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 spacewalk-utils 4.1.14-3.12.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 spacewalk-web 4.1.23-3.18.6 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 subscription-matcher 0.26-3.6.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 susemanager 4.1.24-3.20.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 susemanager-doc-indexes 4.1-11.28.4 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 susemanager-docs_en 4.1-11.28.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 susemanager-schema 4.1.19-3.24.4 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 susemanager-sls 4.1.21-3.26.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 xpp3 1.1.4c-11.2.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Server Module 4.1 xstream 1.4.15-3.5.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Proxy Module 4.1 mgr-osad 4.1.5-2.9.4 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Proxy Module 4.1 rhnlib 4.1.3-4.3.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Proxy Module 4.1 spacewalk-backend 4.1.21-4.22.7 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Proxy Module 4.1 spacewalk-client-tools 4.1.9-4.12.4 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Proxy Module 4.1 spacewalk-proxy 4.1.4-3.9.4 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Proxy Module 4.1 spacewalk-proxy-installer 4.1.6-3.3.2 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1
SUSE Manager Proxy Module 4.1 spacewalk-web 4.1.23-3.18.6 SUSE-SU-2021:0906-1

openSUSE

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Tumbleweed xstream 1.4.18-1.1 openSUSE-SU-2024:10592-1
openSUSE Leap 15.2 xstream 1.4.15-lp152.2.3.1 openSUSE-SU-2021:0140-1

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

GitHub 3 repositories

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
Maven com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream < 1.4.15 1.4.15 GHSA-jfvx-7wrx-43fh

Advisories 10

References