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Critical severityNVD Advisory· Published Jul 26, 2023· Updated Oct 2, 2024

Apache Helix: Deserialization vulnerability in Helix workflow and REST

CVE-2023-38647

Description

An attacker can use SnakeYAML to deserialize java.net.URLClassLoader and make it load a JAR from a specified URL, and then deserialize javax.script.ScriptEngineManager to load code using that ClassLoader. This unbounded deserialization can likely lead to remote code execution. The code can be run in Helix REST start and Workflow creation.

Affect all the versions lower and include 1.2.0.

Affected products: helix-core, helix-rest

Mitigation: Short term, stop using any YAML based configuration and workflow creation. Long term, all Helix version bumping up to 1.3.0

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

Unbounded SnakeYAML deserialization in Apache Helix allows remote code execution via crafted YAML in REST and workflow creation.

The vulnerability (CVE-2023-38647) stems from Apache Helix's use of the SnakeYAML library for deserializing YAML data. An attacker can craft a malicious YAML payload that triggers deserialization of java.net.URLClassLoader and javax.script.ScriptEngineManager, enabling the loading of arbitrary code from a remote JAR. This unbounded deserialization can lead to remote code execution (RCE) [1].

Exploitation requires the attacker to supply the malicious YAML to Helix REST endpoints or during workflow creation. The attack surface includes the helix-rest and helix-core components. No authentication is explicitly mentioned, implying that an attacker with network access to these services could exploit the flaw [1].

Successful exploitation results in full remote code execution on the affected Helix server, potentially compromising the entire cluster's management plane and data [1].

As a short-term mitigation, users should stop using YAML-based configuration and workflow creation. For a permanent fix, upgrade to Helix version 1.3.0, which bumps SnakeYAML to version 2.0, addressing the deserialization issue [2][3].

References
  1. NVD - CVE-2023-38647
  2. Bump snakeyaml from 1.30 to 2.0 in /helix-core (#2398) · apache/helix@09d210f
  3. Bump snakeyaml from 1.30 to 2.0 in /helix-rest (#2399) · apache/helix@eabfda2

AI Insight generated on May 20, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.

Affected packages

Versions sourced from the GitHub Security Advisory.

PackageAffected versionsPatched versions
org.apache.helix:helix-coreMaven
< 1.3.01.3.0
org.apache.helix:helix-restMaven
< 1.3.01.3.0

Affected products

137

Patches

2
09d210fa29b1

Bump snakeyaml from 1.30 to 2.0 in /helix-core (#2398)

https://github.com/apache/helixdependabot[bot]Jul 21, 2023via ghsa
commit
1 file changed · +1 −1
  • helix-core/pom.xml+1 −1 modified
    @@ -142,7 +142,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.yaml</groupId>
       <artifactId>snakeyaml</artifactId>
-      <version>1.30</version>
+      <version>2.0</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.dropwizard.metrics</groupId>
eabfda26b18c

Bump snakeyaml from 1.30 to 2.0 in /helix-rest (#2399)

https://github.com/apache/helixdependabot[bot]Jul 21, 2023via ghsa
commit
1 file changed · +1 −1
  • helix-rest/pom.xml+1 −1 modified
    @@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.yaml</groupId>
       <artifactId>snakeyaml</artifactId>
-      <version>1.30</version>
+      <version>2.0</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>

Vulnerability mechanics

Generated on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.

References

5

News mentions

0

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