CVE-2025-57773: Dataease JNDI Injection RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2025-57773 Overview

DataEase, an open source business intelligence and data visualization tool, contains a critical JNDI injection vulnerability in versions prior to 2.10.12. The vulnerability stems from insufficient filtering of DB2 database connection parameters, allowing attackers to launch JNDI injection attacks that trigger AspectJWeaver deserialization, ultimately enabling arbitrary file writes on affected systems.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit unfiltered DB2 parameters to perform JNDI injection, leading to deserialization attacks that allow arbitrary file write operations on vulnerable DataEase instances.

Affected Products

• DataEase versions prior to 2.10.12
• Systems with commons-collections 4.x dependency
• Systems with aspectjweaver-1.9.22.jar dependency

Discovery Timeline

• August 25, 2025 - CVE-2025-57773 published to NVD
• September 3, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-57773

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability represents a JNDI (Java Naming and Directory Interface) injection flaw that occurs due to improper input validation in DataEase's DB2 database connection handling. When processing DB2 connection parameters, the application fails to sanitize user-supplied input, allowing malicious JNDI lookup strings to be injected. The injection triggers an AspectJWeaver deserialization attack chain that ultimately allows attackers to write arbitrary files to the filesystem.

The exploitation requires specific dependencies to be present on the target system: commons-collections version 4.x and aspectjweaver-1.9.22.jar. These libraries provide the necessary gadget chains for the deserialization attack to succeed. The attack is network-accessible and does not require authentication, making it particularly dangerous for internet-exposed DataEase instances.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper input validation (CWE-94: Code Injection) in the DB2 database connection parameter handling. The application directly uses user-supplied values in JNDI lookups without adequate sanitization or filtering, enabling attackers to inject malicious JNDI URIs that point to attacker-controlled resources. When the application processes these malicious parameters, it initiates a connection to the attacker's server, which returns a serialized payload that gets deserialized by the vulnerable AspectJWeaver library.

Attack Vector

The attack is executed over the network and does not require user interaction or authentication. An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by submitting a crafted DB2 connection configuration containing a malicious JNDI lookup string. The attack flow follows these steps:

1. Attacker submits a malicious DB2 connection request with a crafted JNDI URI in the connection parameters
2. DataEase processes the unfiltered parameter and performs a JNDI lookup
3. The JNDI lookup connects to an attacker-controlled server
4. The malicious server returns a serialized AspectJWeaver payload
5. The application deserializes the payload, triggering arbitrary file write operations

The vulnerability requires the presence of specific dependency libraries (commons-collections 4.x and aspectjweaver-1.9.22.jar) for successful exploitation. For detailed technical analysis, refer to the GitHub Security Advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-57773

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual outbound JNDI lookup connections from DataEase server to external hosts
• Unexpected file creation or modification in web application directories
• Suspicious DB2 connection configuration attempts with JNDI URI patterns (e.g., jndi:ldap://, jndi:rmi://)
• Log entries showing deserialization errors or AspectJWeaver-related exceptions

Detection Strategies

• Monitor network traffic for outbound LDAP, RMI, or DNS connections initiated by the DataEase application
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block JNDI injection patterns in request parameters
• Review DataEase application logs for suspicious database connection attempts with non-standard URI schemes
• Deploy runtime application self-protection (RASP) solutions to detect JNDI injection attempts

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable verbose logging for database connection operations in DataEase
• Configure alerts for any outbound connections to non-whitelisted LDAP or RMI servers
• Monitor file system changes in DataEase installation directories for unauthorized modifications
• Implement behavioral analysis to detect anomalous process spawning from the DataEase application

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-57773

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade DataEase to version 2.10.12 or later immediately
• Audit existing DataEase configurations for signs of compromise
• Review and restrict network egress rules for DataEase servers to prevent outbound JNDI lookups
• If immediate patching is not possible, consider temporarily disabling DB2 database connection functionality

Patch Information

The vulnerability has been addressed in DataEase version 2.10.12. The fix implements proper filtering and validation of DB2 connection parameters to prevent JNDI injection attacks. The patch can be reviewed in the GitHub commit (8d04e92d44e1bac9284e9e64df5afd7f96d9373c). Organizations should upgrade to the patched version as the primary remediation measure.

Workarounds

• Implement network-level controls to block outbound LDAP (port 389, 636) and RMI (port 1099) connections from DataEase servers
• Deploy a WAF with rules to detect and block JNDI injection patterns in HTTP parameters
• Remove or update vulnerable dependency libraries (commons-collections 4.x and aspectjweaver-1.9.22.jar) if not required by the application
• Restrict access to DataEase administrative interfaces to trusted networks only

# Example: Block outbound LDAP/RMI connections from DataEase server using iptables
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 389 -m owner --uid-owner dataease -j DROP
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 636 -m owner --uid-owner dataease -j DROP
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 1099 -m owner --uid-owner dataease -j DROP