CVE-2026-34197 ActiveMQ Classic Lab

This repository contains a local lab for studying CVE-2026-34197 in Apache ActiveMQ Classic and for comparing a vulnerable instance against a patched build.

The repository is organized to support two goals:

• Reproduce the issue in a tightly controlled, isolated environment.
• Validate remediation behavior with a patched ActiveMQ Classic build.

Disclaimer

This repository is provided strictly for lawful, authorized, defensive security research in isolated lab environments that you own or are explicitly permitted to test.

By using any material in this repository, you agree that:

• You will not use it against third-party systems, public targets, customer environments, shared infrastructure, or any system without explicit written authorization.
• You will not use it for unauthorized access, persistence, disruption, lateral movement, data access, or any activity that violates law, policy, contract, or acceptable-use requirements.
• You understand that proof-of-concept security research can cause service interruption, process crashes, data corruption, container compromise, shell access, and unintended propagation if handled carelessly.
• You are solely responsible for compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, contracts, and internal policies.
• You will run this only in disposable lab systems with appropriate network isolation, monitoring, and rollback capability.

This repository is not intended for offensive operations. It is intended for validation, education, detection engineering, patch verification, and controlled demonstration only.

If you are unsure whether you are authorized to run this material, do not run it.

Scope

This lab focuses on Apache ActiveMQ Classic behavior around CVE-2026-34197:

• A vulnerable container based on apache/activemq-classic:5.19.2
• A patched container built locally from ActiveMQ Classic 5.19.4
• A simple XML payload file used for lab validation
• Notes for verifying expected vulnerable vs patched behavior

Repository Layout

.
├── activemq-patched
│   ├── docker-compose.yml
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── instructions.txt
│   └── poc.xml
├── docker-compose.yml
├── instructions.txt
└── poc.xml

Vulnerable Lab

The root of this repository contains the vulnerable lab:

• docker-compose.yml starts an ActiveMQ Classic 5.19.2 container with the web console and Jolokia exposed on localhost.
• instructions.txt contains the local lab workflow used to validate the vulnerable behavior.
• poc.xml is the XML payload template used in the lab.

Typical exposed ports in the vulnerable compose file:

• 8161 - Web Console / Jolokia
• 61616 - OpenWire
• 61613 - STOMP
• 1883 - MQTT
• 5672 - AMQP

Start the vulnerable lab:

docker compose up -d

Patched Lab

The activemq-patched/ directory contains a patched comparison environment:

• A local Docker build based on ActiveMQ Classic 5.19.4
• A Dockerfile that updates Jetty binding so the web console is reachable from the host
• A separate compose file that publishes the patched broker on different localhost ports

Typical exposed ports in the patched compose file:

• 8261 - Web Console / Jolokia
• 62616 - OpenWire

Build the patched image

Download the archived 5.19.4 release tarball:

cd activemq-patched
wget https://archive.apache.org/dist/activemq/5.19.4/apache-activemq-5.19.4-bin.tar.gz

Build the local image:

docker build \
  -t pssec/activemq-classic:5.19.4 \
  --build-arg ACTIVEMQ_VERSION=5.19.4 \
  -f Dockerfile .

Start the patched lab:

docker compose up -d

Validation Guidance

Use the provided instructions.txt files for the lab flow.

Expected high-level outcome:

• The vulnerable environment should allow the unsafe connector path in the lab workflow.
• The patched environment should reject the unsafe VM-based scheme and return an error similar to VM scheme is not allowed.

Recommended non-destructive validation

In a real internal test, prefer a safe, observable, non-destructive command instead of anything invasive.

A simple example is to create a temporary file such as:

touch /tmp/pssec_validation_marker

Then verify the result from the host:

docker exec -it cve-2026-34197-activemq ls -l /tmp/pssec_validation_marker

For the patched environment, the equivalent validation should fail to create the file when the fix is working as expected.

This is safer than using an interactive payload and is usually enough to prove:

• whether the vulnerable path is still reachable, or
• whether the patched broker blocks the dangerous connector behavior.

Notes

• Keep the lab bound to 127.0.0.1 where practical.
• Use disposable containers and isolated networks.
• Reset or rebuild containers between test runs.
• Review container logs and Jolokia responses as part of validation.
• Prefer non-destructive file-based checks over interactive shells during internal verification.

Business

PSsec: https://pssec.io