Insecure Deserialization Deep Dive

Deserialization vulnerabilities occur when applications reconstruct objects from untrusted data without proper validation. Attackers craft malicious serialized objects that, when deserialized, execute arbitrary code or modify application behavior. It's like accepting a blueprint and building whatever it specifies without checking if it's actually a Trojan horse.

These vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous because they often lead to remote code execution—the attacker gains the ability to run any command on your server. Popular frameworks in Java, Python, PHP, and .NET have all suffered from deserialization vulnerabilities. The complexity of modern object models and the convenience of serialization for data transfer make this an attractive but dangerous pattern.