CVE-2026-55223: swaldman c3p0 Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-55223 is a medium (CVSS 6.3) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in swaldman c3p0. EPSS estimates a 0.48% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 40.1% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 30-06-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 01-07-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

c3p0 is a JDBC Connection pooling library. In versions prior to 0.14.0, c3p0 in combination with other libraries, can compose to a "sink" for deserialization gadgets. The JDBC spec's DataSource.getConnection() and ConnectionPoolDataSource.getPooledConnection() match the getXXX() form, so JavaBean libraries treat them as "properties" assumed safe while they actually call into JDBC drivers. Attackers can thus craft malicious DataSource objects whose property lookups invoke vulnerable drivers, then smuggle them in serialized form to where an application deserializes and auto-resolves bean properties — triggering the attack. This requires a susceptible DataSource/ConnectionPoolDataSource and JDBC driver on the CLASSPATH, plus a carrier that auto-looks-up JavaBean properties on = deserialization, most commonly a collection paired with an Apache commons-beanutils Comparator that sorts by bean properties. c3p0 supplied that susceptible DataSource/ConnectionPoolDataSource, which was an essential component of the trigger. This issue has been fixed in version 0.14.0.

• CWE-502Deserialization of Untrusted DataThe product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.
• CWE-915Improperly Controlled Modification of Dynamically-Determined Object AttributesThe product receives input from an upstream component that specifies multiple attributes, properties, or fields that are to be initialized or updated in an object, but it does not properly control which attributes can be modified.