CVE-2026-33701

OpenTelemetry: Unsafe Deserialization in RMI Instrumentation may Lead to Remote Code Execution

State
Published
Severity
9.3 Critical
Published
Mar 27, 2026
Updated
Aug 17, 2026
Reserved
Mar 23, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

OpenTelemetry Java Instrumentation provides OpenTelemetry auto-instrumentation and instrumentation libraries for Java. In versions prior to 2.26.1, the RMI instrumentation registered a custom endpoint that deserialized incoming data without applying serialization filters. On JDK version 16 and earlier, an attacker with network access to a JMX or RMI port on an instrumented JVM could exploit this to potentially achieve remote code execution. All three of the following conditions must be true to exploit this vulnerability: First, OpenTelemetry Java instrumentation is attached as a Java agent (`-javaagent`) on Java 16 or earlier. Second, JMX/RMI port has been explicitly configured via `-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port` and is network-reachable. Third, gadget-chain-compatible library is present on the classpath. This results in arbitrary remote code execution with the privileges of the user running the instrumented JVM. For JDK >= 17, no action is required, but upgrading is strongly encouraged. For JDK < 17, upgrade to version 2.26.1 or later. As a workaround, set the system property `-Dotel.instrumentation.rmi.enabled=false` to disable the RMI integration.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
4.09.3 CriticalCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:NGitHub_M
3.18.1 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hredhat-SADP

Weaknesses

  • CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Affected Products

ProductVersions
opentelemetry-java-instrumentationopen-telemetry
  • < 2.26.1Affected

References

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