CVE-2026-33701
Medium
Elevated severity or exploit probability.
CVSS breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
| Attack Vector | N | Network |
| Attack Complexity | L | Low |
| Privileges Required | N | None |
| User Interaction | N | None |
| Scope | U | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | H | High |
| Integrity | H | High |
| Availability | H | High |
Timeline
- 2026-03-27 — Published (NVD)
- 2026-08-04 — Last modified (NVD)
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.
Affected
References
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java-instrumentation/commit/9cf4fbaaa9e79226142b2ed42a6f6b4ac0be2197
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java-instrumentation/releases/tag/v2.26.1
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java-instrumentation/security/advisories/GHSA-xw7x-h9fj-p2c7
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-33701
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2452071
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-33701.json