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Object Although serialization allows saving an object's state to be saved as a sequence of bytes and its reconstitution then reconstituted at a later time. The primary application of serialization is in Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) wherein objects must be (un)packed and exchanged between distributed virtual machines. It also finds extensive use in Java Beans.Java language's access control mechanisms cease to remain effective after a class is serialized. Consequently, any sensitive data that was originally protected using , it provides no mechanism to protect the serialized data. An attacker who gains access to the serialized data can use it to discover sensitive information and to determine implementation details of the objects. An attacker can also modify the serialized data in an attempt to compromise the system when the malicious data is deserialized. Consequently, sensitive data that is serialized is potentially exposed, without regard to the access qualifiers (such as the private keyword) gets exposedthat were used in the original code. Moreover, the security manager does not provide any checks to guarantee integrity of serialized datacannot guarantee the integrity of the deserialized data.

Examples of sensitive data that should never be serialized include cryptographic keys, digital certificates, and classes that may hold references to sensitive data at the time of serialization.

This rule is meant to prevent the unintentional serialization of sensitive information. SER02-J. Sign then seal objects before sending them outside a trust boundary applies to the intentional serialization of sensitive information.

Noncompliant Code Example

The data members of class Point are declared as private. The saveState and readState methods are used for serialization and de-serialization respectively. The coordinates (x,y) that are written to the data stream are susceptible Assuming the coordinates are sensitive, their presence in the data stream would expose them to malicious tampering.

public class Point implements Serializable {

  private double x;
  private double y;

  public Point(double x, double y) {
    this.x = x;
    this.y = y;
  }

 
 public Point()
 {
    //no No-argument constructor
  } 
}

public class Coordinates extends Point implements Serializable {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
 {
    FileOutputStream fout = null;
    try {
      Point p = new Point(5, 2);
     FileOutputStream fout = new FileOutputStream("point.ser");
      ObjectOutputStream oout = new ObjectOutputStream(fout);
      oout.writeObject(p);
   oout.close(); } catch (Throwable t) { 
      // Forward to handler 
    } finally {
   catch   if (Exception efout != null) {System.err.println(e);} 
 }
}

Compliant Solutions

        try {
          fout.close();
        } catch (IOException x) {
          // Handle error
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

In the absence of sensitive data, a class classes can be serialized by simply implementing the java.io.Serializable interface. By doing so, the class indicates that no security issues may result from the object's serialization. Note that any sub classes will derived subclasses also inherit this interface and will as a result be serializable. are consequently serializable. This approach is inappropriate for any class that contains sensitive data.

Compliant Solution

When serializing a class that contains sensitive data, programs must ensure that sensitive data is omitted from the serialized form. This includes suppressing both serialization of data members that contain sensitive data and serialization of references to nonserializable or sensitive objects.

This compliant solution both avoids the possibility of incorrect serialization and protects sensitive data members from accidental serialization by declaring the relevant members as transient so that they are omitted from When serialization is unavoidable, it is still possible to have classes that cannot implement serializable. This condition is common when there are references to non-serializable objects within the contained methods. The following compliant solution avoids this issue and also protects sensitive data members from getting serialized accidentally. The basic idea is to declare the target member as transient so that it is not included in the list of fields to be serialized , whenever by the default serialization is being usedmechanism.

public class Point implements Serializable {

 private transient double x; // Declared transient
 private transient double y; // Declared transient

 public Point(double x, double y) {
  this.x = x;
  this.y = y;
 }

 public Point()
 {
   //no No-argument constructor
 }
 
}

public class Coordinates extends Point implements Serializable {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
 {
   FileOutputStream fout = null;
    try {
      Point p = new Point(5,2);
   FileOutputStream   fout = new FileOutputStream("point.ser");
      ObjectOutputStream oout = new ObjectOutputStream(fout);
      oout.writeObject(p);
      oout.close();
    }
  catch (Exception e) {System.err.println(e);} 
 }
}

...

      // Forward to handler
    } finally {
      if (fout != null) {
        try {
          fout.close();
        } catch (IOException x) {
          // Handle error
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Other compliant solutions include

• Developing custom implementations of the writeObject(), writeReplace(), and writeExternal() methods that prevent sensitive fields from being written to the serialized stream.
• Defining the serialPersistentFields array field and ensuring that sensitive fields are

...

• omitted from the array (see SER00-J. Enable serialization compatibility during class evolution).

Noncompliant Code Example

Serialization can be used maliciously, for example, to return multiple instances of a singleton class object. In this noncompliant code example (based on [Bloch 2005]), a subclass SensitiveClass inadvertently becomes serializable because it extends the java.lang.Number class, which implements Serializable:

public class SensitiveClass extends Number {
  // ... Implement abstract methods, such as Number.doubleValue()…

  private static final SensitiveClass INSTANCE = new SensitiveClass();
  public static SensitiveClass getInstance() {
    return INSTANCE;
  }

  private SensitiveClass() {
    // Perform security checks and parameter validation
  }

  private int balance = 1000;
  protected int getBalance() {
    return balance;
  }
}

class Malicious {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    SensitiveClass sc =
       (SensitiveClass) deepCopy(SensitiveClass.getInstance());
    // Prints false; indicates new instance
    System.out.println(sc == SensitiveClass.getInstance());  
    System.out.println("Balance = " + sc.getBalance());
  }

  // This method should not be used in production code
  static public Object deepCopy(Object obj) {
    try {
      ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
      new ObjectOutputStream(bos).writeObject(obj);
      ByteArrayInputStream bin =
          new ByteArrayInputStream(bos.toByteArray());
      return new ObjectInputStream(bin).readObject();
    } catch (Exception e) { 
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
    }
  }
}

See MSC07-J. Prevent multiple instantiations of singleton objects for more information about singleton classes.

Compliant Solution

Extending a class or interface that implements Serializable should be avoided whenever possible. For instance, a nonserializable class could contain an instance of a serializable class and delegate method calls to the serializable class.

When extension of a serializable class by an unserializable class is necessary, inappropriate serialization of the subclass can be prohibited by throwing NotSerializableException from custom writeObject(), readObject(), and readObjectNoData() methods, defined in the nonserializable subclass. These custom methods must be declared private (see SER01-J. Do not deviate from the proper signatures of serialization methods for more information).

class SensitiveClass extends Number {
  // ...

  private final Object writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream out) throws NotSerializableException {
    throw new NotSerializableException();
  }
  private final Object readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream in) throws NotSerializableException {
    throw new NotSerializableException();
  }
  private final Object readObjectNoData(java.io.ObjectInputStream in) throws NotSerializableException {
    throw new NotSerializableException();
  }
}

It is still possible for an attacker to obtain uninitialized instances of SensitiveClass by catching NotSerializableException or by using a finalizer attack (see OBJ11-J. Be wary of letting constructors throw exceptions for more information). Consequently, an unserializable class that extends a serializable class must always validate its invariants before executing any methods. That is, any object of such a class must inspect its fields, its actual type (to prevent it being a malicious subclass), and any invariants it possesses (such as being a malicious second object of a singleton class).

Exceptions

SER03-J-EX0: Sensitive data that has been properly encrypted may be serialized. Sometimes it is necessary to prevent a serializable object (whose superclass implements serializable) from getting serialized. This can be achieved by throwing a NotSerializableException from the custom writeObject() method.

Risk Assessment

If sensitive data can be serialized then , it may be transmitted over an insecure linkconnection, or stored in an insecure medium, and thereby released location, or disclosed inappropriately.

Automated Detection

...

TODO

Related Vulnerabilities

Search for vulnerabilities resulting from the violation of this rule on the CERT website.

References

Tool	Version	Checker	Description
CodeSonar	Include Page CodeSonar_V CodeSonar_V	JAVA.CLASS.SER.ND	Serialization Not Disabled (Java)
Coverity	7.5	UNSAFE_DESERIALIZATION	Implemented
Parasoft Jtest	Include Page Parasoft_V Parasoft_V	CERT.SER03.SIF	Inspect instance fields of serializable objects to make sure they will not expose sensitive information

Related Guidelines

Bibliography

...

Image Added Image Added Image Added Wiki Markup\[[JLS 05|AA. Java References#JLS 05]\] [Transient modifier|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/classes.html#37020] \[[Harold 99|AA. Java References#Harold 99]\] \[[SCG 07|AA. Java References#SCG 07]\] Guideline 5-1 Guard sensitive data during serialization \[[Long 05|AA. Java References#Long 05]\] Section 2.4, Serialization