On Apache Log4j2 Exploitation in Aeronautical, Maritime, and Aerospace Communication

Apache Log4j2 is a prevalent logging library for Java-based applications. In December 2021, several critical and high-impact software vulnerabilities, including CVE-2021-44228, were publicly disclosed, enabling remote code execution (RCE) denial of service (DoS) attacks. To date, these vulnerabilities are considered the consequences their disclosure far-reaching. The potentially affect wide range internet things (IoT) devices, embedded infrastructure (CI), cyber-physical systems (CPSs). this paper, we study effects feasibility exploiting in mission-critical aviation maritime environments using ACARS, ADS-B, AIS protocols. We develop systematic methodology an experimental setup to identify protocols’ exploitable fields associated attack payload features. For our experiments, employ software-defined radios (SDRs), use open-source software, novel tools, features existing software. evaluate attacks demonstrate end-to-end RCE with all three studied that susceptible exploitation feasible non-sophisticated attackers. facilitate further studies related on aerospace, aviation, infrastructures, release relevant artifacts (e.g., documentation, scripts) as open-source, complemented by patches bugs used study.