VDB
KO
HIGH

GHSA-6g32-pxv4-2wfj

RabbitMQ Java client: Unvalidated Class.forName in JSON-RPC ProcedureDescription enables arbitrary class loading

Quick fix

GHSA-6g32-pxv4-2wfj — com.rabbitmq:amqp-client: upgrade to the fixed version with the command below.

# pom.xml: bump <version>5.33.0</version> for com.rabbitmq:amqp-client

Details

The JSON-RPC tools in `com.rabbitmq.tools.jsonrpc` perform `Class.forName(javaReturnType)` with `initialize=true` on class names received from untrusted AMQP messages, without any validation or allowlist.

**Vulnerable code** (`ProcedureDescription.java:101-127`): When a `JsonRpcClient` connects, it calls `system.describe` and receives a service description from the AMQP queue. The response JSON includes `javaReturnType` fields that are reflectively set via `JSONUtil.tryFill()`, triggering `setJavaReturnType()` → `computeReturnTypeAsJavaClass()` → `Class.forName(javaReturnType)`.

**Attack scenario:** 1. Victim uses `JsonRpcClient` to connect to a JSON-RPC service via RabbitMQ 2. Attacker (co-tenant on shared broker, or MITM) intercepts the `system.describe` request 3. Attacker responds with crafted `javaReturnType` values 4. Victim's client calls `Class.forName(attackerInput)` with default `initialize=true` 5. Static initializers of attacker-specified classes execute in victim's JVM

Additionally, the loaded class from `getReturnType()` is passed to `mapper.parse(replyStr, expectedType)` at `JsonRpcClient.java:168`, potentially enabling type-confusion.

**Recommended fix:** Use `Class.forName(javaReturnType, false, classLoader)` to prevent static initializer execution, or add an allowlist of permitted return types.

**CWE:** CWE-470

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**Reply from reporter (2026-06-29):** Thanks for the quick turnaround. Fix looks good. Looking forward to the CVE assignment.

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Affected packages

Maven / com.rabbitmq:amqp-client
Introduced in: 0 Fixed in: 5.33.0
Fix # pom.xml: bump <version>5.33.0</version> for com.rabbitmq:amqp-client

References