CISA adds JBoss RichFaces Framework flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

RichFaces 3.x through 3.3.4, Red Hat's legacy JavaServer Faces (JSF) component framework, is vulnerable to unauthenticated Expression Language (EL) injection (CWE-94) in the UserResource resource. A remote attacker sends crafted requests to UserResource (org.ajax4jsf.resource.UserResource$UriData), causing the framework to evaluate attacker-controlled EL built from chains of Java serialized objects. Successful exploitation results in arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the affected Java application server, with no authentication or user interaction required (CVSS 3.1: 9.8). Any application or product deploying RichFrames 3.x — including deployments in Red Hat's JBoss/Enterprise Linux ecosystem — is affected, and since RichFrames 3.x is end-of-life many installations remain unpatched. CISA added the flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-09-28, confirming exploitation in the wild, and EPSS places it in the 99th percentile with a 74.2% probability of exploitation within 30 days.

Do: Prioritize remediation given the KEV listing: apply mitigations or updated packages per Red Hat's vendor instructions, or discontinue/replace RichFrames 3.x (end-of-life) where fixes are unavailable, per CISA's required action. Inventory Java web applications for RichFrames 3.x usage (org.ajax4jsf / a4j components), focusing on internet-facing servers, and restrict access to UserResource endpoints if code updates are not immediately possible.