Insecure Deserialization

Serialization is the process of converting an in-memory data structure into a stream of binary data, typically for the purpose of sending it across a network socket. On the receiving end of this, Deserialization is the process in which that data stream is rebuilt into a data structure.

Vulnerabilities arise on the deserialization end for some server-side languages like Ruby on Rails. The serialization library for ROR allows a newly created data structure to execute code. This feature, if not mitigated, will allow an attacker to inject commands into the data section of a request if the file is to be deserialized.

The proper mitigation for such attacks is to ensure any serialization library in use has flags set to disallow code execution. Then also to map out all serialization libraries in use in your organization and to monitor the threat advisory boards for new vulnerabilities against those libraries.

Coming Soon!