Summary
Ant Media Server vulnerable to a local privilege escalation
Workarounds
Remote the following parameters from antmedia.service file
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=5599 -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.local.only=true -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.host=127.0.0.1 -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=127.0.0.1 -Djava.rmi.server.useLocalHostname=true -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.rmi.port=5599
Thank you Adam Crosser for reporting the issue
Local Privilege Escalation via Unauthenticated JMX Remote Management Interface (1).pdf
Impact
We have identified a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Ant Media Server which allows any unprivileged operating system user account to escalate privileges to the root user account on the system. This vulnerability arises from Ant Media Server running with Java Management Extensions (JMX) enabled and authentication disabled on localhost on port 5599/TCP. This vulnerability is nearly identical to the local privilege escalation vulnerability CVE-2023-26269 identified in Apache James.
Any unprivileged operating system user can connect to the JMX service running on port 5599/TCP on localhost and leverage the MLet Bean within JMX to load a remote MBean from an attacker-controlled server. This allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code within the Java process run by Ant Media Server and execute code within the context of the “antmedia” service account on the system.
The application does not perform an authorization check before performing a sensitive operation. Typical impact: unauthorized access to restricted functionality or data.
CVE-2024-32656 has a CVSS score of 7.8 (High). The vector is requires local access, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (2.9.0); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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2.9.0
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2024-32656? CVE-2024-32656 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in io.antmedia:ant-media-server (maven), affecting versions >= 2.6.0, < 2.9.0. It is fixed in 2.9.0. The application does not perform an authorization check before performing a sensitive operation.
- How severe is CVE-2024-32656? CVE-2024-32656 has a CVSS score of 7.8 (High). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of io.antmedia:ant-media-server are affected by CVE-2024-32656? io.antmedia:ant-media-server (maven) versions >= 2.6.0, < 2.9.0 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2024-32656? Yes. CVE-2024-32656 is fixed in 2.9.0. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2024-32656 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2024-32656 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2024-32656 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2024-32656? Upgrade
io.antmedia:ant-media-serverto 2.9.0 or later.