CVE-2020-11002
highpriority · track · 37EPSS 0.052 · 92 %ileEUUSEPSS · scored 2026-10-27
dropwizard-validation before versions 2.0.3 and 1.3.21 has a remote code execution vulnerability. A server-side template injection was identified in the self-validating feature enabling attackers to inject arbitrary Java EL expressions, leading to Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability. If you are using a self-validating bean an upgrade to Dropwizard 1.3.21/2.0.3 or later is strongly recommended. The changes introduced in Dropwizard 1.3.19 and 2.0.2 for CVE-2020-5245 unfortunately did not fix the underlying issue completely. The issue has been fixed in dropwizard-validation 1.3.21 and 2.0.3 or later. We strongly recommend upgrading to one of these versions.
cvss
Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.
base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode
weaknesses
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affected products (6)
Products and version ranges known to be affected.
- dropwizard dropwizard validation< 1.3.21nvdUScpe:2.3:a:dropwizard:dropwizard_validation:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
- dropwizard dropwizard validation2.0.0 → 2.0.3nvdUScpe:2.3:a:dropwizard:dropwizard_validation:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
- Maven io.dropwizard:dropwizard-validation2.0.0 → 2.0.3osvUSpkg:maven/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-validation
advisories (1)
Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.
- GHSA-8jpx-m2wh-2v34Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in dropwizard-validation2020-04-10ghsa · osvUS
### Summary A server-side template injection was identified in the self-validating ([`@SelfValidating`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/SelfValidating.html)) feature of **dropwizard-validation** enabling attackers to inject arbitrary Java EL expressions, leading to Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability. If you're using a self-validating bean (via [`@SelfValidating`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/SelfValidating.html)), an upgrade to Dropwizard 1.3.21/2.0.3 or later is strongly recommended. The changes introduced in Dropwizard 1.3.19 and 2.0.2 (see [GHSA-3mcp-9wr4-cjqf](https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/security/advisories/GHSA-3mcp-9wr4-cjqf)/[CVE-2020-5245](https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-3mcp-9wr4-cjqf)) unfortunately didn't fix the underlying issue completely. ### Impact This issue may allow Remote Code Execution (RCE), allowing to run arbitrary code on the host system (with the privileges of the Dropwizard service account privileges) by injecting arbitrary [Java Expression Language (EL)](https://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/validator/6.1/reference/en-US/html_single/#section-interpolation-with-message-expressions) expressions when using the self-validating feature ([`@SelfValidating`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/SelfValidating.html), [`@SelfValidation`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/SelfValidation.html)) in **dropwizard-validation**. ### Patches The issue has been fixed in **dropwizard-validation** **1.3.21** and **2.0.3** or later. We strongly recommend upgrading to one of these versions. The evaluation of EL expressions has been disabled by default now. In order to use some interpolation in the violation messages added to [`ViolationCollector`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/ViolationCollector.html), it has to be explicitly allowed by setting [`SelfValidating#escapeExpressions()`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/SelfValidating.html#escapeExpressions--) to `false`. It is also recommended to use the `addViolation` methods supporting message parameters instead of EL expressions introduced in Dropwizard 1.3.21 and 2.0.3: * [`ViolationCollector#addViolation(String, Map<String, Object>`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/ViolationCollector.html#addViolation-java.lang.String-java.util.Map-) * [`ViolationCollector#addViolation(String, String, Map<String, Object>`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/ViolationCollector.html#addViolation-java.lang.String-java.lang.String-java.util.Map-) * [`ViolationCollector#addViolation(String, String, Integer, Map<String, Object>`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/ViolationCollector.html#addViolation-java.lang.String-java.lang.Integer-java.lang.String-java.util.Map-) * [`ViolationCollector#addViolation(String, String, String, Map<String, Object>`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/ViolationCollector.html#addViolation-java.lang.String-java.lang.String-java.lang.String-java.util.Map-) ### Workarounds If you are not able to upgrade to one of the aforementioned versions of **dropwizard-validation** but still want to use the [`@SelfValidating`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.2/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/SelfValidating.html) feature, make sure to properly sanitize any message you're adding to the [`ViolationCollector`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/ViolationCollector.html) in the method annotated with [`@SelfValidation`](https://javadoc.io/static/io.dropwizard/dropwizard-project/2.0.3/io/dropwizard/validation/selfvalidating/SelfValidation.html). Example: ```java @SelfValidation public void validateFullName(ViolationCollector col) { if (fullName.contains("_")) { // Sanitize fullName variable by escaping relevant characters such as "$" col.addViolation("Full name contains invalid characters: " + sanitizeJavaEl(fullName)); } } ``` See also: https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/blob/v2.0.3/dropwizard-validation/src/main/java/io/dropwizard/validation/InterpolationHelper.java ### References * https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/security/advisories/GHSA-3mcp-9wr4-cjqf * https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/pull/3208 * https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/pull/3209 * https://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/validator/6.1/reference/en-US/html_single/#section-hibernateconstraintvalidatorcontext ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory: * Open an issue in [dropwizard/dropwizard](https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/issues/new) * Start a discussion on the [dropwizard-dev mailing list](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/dropwizard-dev) ### Security contact If you want to responsibly disclose a security issue in Dropwizard or one of its official modules, please contact us via the published channels in our [security policy](https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/security/policy): https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/security/policy#reporting-a-vulnerability
also known as (3)
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sources
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references (22)
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/validator/6.1/reference/en-US/html_single/#section-hibernateconstraintvalidatorcontextcnnvd
- https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/commit/d5a512f7abf965275f2a6b913ac4fe778e424242cnnvd
- https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/pull/3208cnnvd
- https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/pull/3209cnnvd
- https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/security/advisories/GHSA-3mcp-9wr4-cjqfcnnvd
- https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/security/advisories/GHSA-8jpx-m2wh-2v34cnnvd
- https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/security/policy#reporting-a-vulnerabilitycnnvd
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-11002cnnvd
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