PoC: Apache Struts2 CVE-2017-5638 (Safe Educational Demo)

📌 Overview

This project is a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) for CVE-2017-5638, a famous Apache Struts2 vulnerability that allowed attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected servers.
⚠️ This repository contains a safe, non-exploitative demo designed for educational purposes only. It does not perform any malicious actions.

🔎 About the Vulnerability

• CVE ID: CVE-2017-5638
• Type: Remote Code Execution (RCE)
• Component: Apache Struts2 (Jakarta Multipart Parser)
• Root Cause: User input in the Content-Type header was improperly passed to OGNL (Object-Graph Navigation Language), allowing attackers to inject and execute code on the server.

🛠️ How This PoC Works

This script demonstrates how an attacker might test for the vulnerability — but in a harmless way.

• It sends a specially crafted Content-Type header containing an OGNL expression.
• Instead of executing dangerous commands, the payload simply attempts to add a custom header (X-Vuln: Vulnerable) to the server’s response.
• If the header appears, it means the server is processing OGNL input and is likely vulnerable.

This makes it a safe demonstration of the vulnerability without actually exploiting it.

▶️ Usage

# Install required package
pip install requests

# Run the script
python3 struts2_poc.py

# Enter a target URL when prompted (example)
http://example.com/