CVE-2021-41034
📋 TL;DR
Eclipse Che versions 6 builds for Java 8, Android, and PHP stacks pull binaries from unsecured HTTP endpoints during build time, making them vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks. Attackers could replace legitimate binaries with malicious ones during the build process. This affects developers and organizations building Eclipse Che with these specific language stacks.
💻 Affected Systems
- Eclipse Che
📦 What is this software?
Che by Eclipse
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers inject malicious binaries during build, leading to compromised development environments, supply chain attacks, or backdoored container images.
Likely Case
Malicious actors intercept and replace build dependencies with trojaned versions, potentially compromising development pipelines.
If Mitigated
With proper network controls and HTTPS enforcement, the risk is limited to internal build environments with controlled network access.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires network position to intercept HTTP traffic during build process.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Fixed in subsequent releases after version 6
Vendor Advisory: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=540989
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Upgrade Eclipse Che to a version after 6. 2. Ensure all language stack builds use HTTPS endpoints. 3. Verify build pipelines use secure connections.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Enforce HTTPS in build environment
linuxConfigure build systems to reject HTTP connections and require HTTPS for all external dependencies
export CHE_BUILD_HTTP_POLICY=HTTPS_ONLY
configure network proxies to block HTTP to external repositories
Use internal artifact repository
linuxMirror all required binaries to a secure internal repository with HTTPS
setup internal artifact repository (Artifactory/Nexus)
configure Eclipse Che to use internal repo URLs
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Isolate build environment from untrusted networks
- Implement network monitoring for HTTP traffic during builds
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Eclipse Che version and inspect build configuration for HTTP endpoints in Java 8, Android, or PHP stack definitionsCheck Version:
chectl version | grep 'Server version'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify all external dependencies in build configurations use HTTPS URLs📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- HTTP (not HTTPS) connections during build process
- Unexpected binary downloads during stack builds
Network Indicators:
- HTTP traffic to external repositories during build phase
- Unencrypted binary transfers
SIEM Query:
source="build-logs" AND ("HTTP/1.1" OR "http://") AND ("java8" OR "android" OR "php")