CVE-2024-21634
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2024-21634 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in Amazon Ion's Java library (ion-java) where specially crafted Ion data can cause a StackOverflowError during deserialization. This affects applications that use ion-java to process Ion text or binary data from untrusted sources. The vulnerability allows attackers to crash applications by exhausting stack memory.
💻 Affected Systems
- Amazon Ion Java library (ion-java)
📦 What is this software?
Ion by Amazon
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete application crash leading to service unavailability, potentially affecting multiple dependent services in a chain reaction.
Likely Case
Targeted application crashes causing temporary denial of service until restarted, with possible data loss for in-flight transactions.
If Mitigated
No impact if proper input validation and patching are implemented, or if only trusted data sources are used.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires sending specially crafted Ion data to vulnerable applications. The advisory provides enough technical detail for attackers to craft payloads.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.10.5
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/amazon-ion/ion-java/security/advisories/GHSA-264p-99wq-f4j6
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update ion-java dependency to version 1.10.5 or later in your project's build configuration (Maven pom.xml or Gradle build.gradle). 2. Rebuild and redeploy your application. 3. Restart affected services.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input validation and source restriction
allDo not load Ion data from untrusted sources or data that could have been tampered with. Implement strict input validation for all Ion data processing.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network filtering to block or limit Ion data from untrusted sources
- Deploy application-level rate limiting and monitoring for StackOverflowError patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check your project's dependency management file (pom.xml or build.gradle) for ion-java version. If version is below 1.10.5, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
For Maven: mvn dependency:tree | grep ion-java; For Gradle: gradle dependencies | grep ion-javaVerify Fix Applied:
Verify that ion-java version 1.10.5 or higher is listed in your dependencies after updating. Test with known malicious Ion payloads to confirm the application no longer crashes.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- StackOverflowError in ion-java stack traces
- Application crashes with OutOfMemoryError patterns
- Increased error rates in Ion data processing endpoints
Network Indicators:
- Unusual volume of Ion data requests to vulnerable endpoints
- Requests containing malformed or deeply nested Ion structures
SIEM Query:
source="application.logs" AND ("StackOverflowError" AND "ion-java") OR ("OutOfMemoryError" AND "IonValue")