CVE-2018-15758 [Critical] | Privilege Escalation in Spring Security Oauth

Spring Security OAuth, versions 2.3 prior to 2.3.4, and 2.2 prior to 2.2.3, and 2.1 prior to 2.1.3, and 2.0 prior to 2.0.16, and older unsupported versions could be susceptible to a privilege escalation under certain conditions. A malicious user or attacker can craft a request to the approval endpoint that can modify the previously saved authorization request and lead to a privilege escalation on the subsequent approval. This scenario can happen if the application is configured to use a custom approval endpoint that declares AuthorizationRequest as a controller method argument. This vulnerability exposes applications that meet all of the following requirements: Act in the role of an Authorization Server (e.g. @EnableAuthorizationServer) and use a custom Approval Endpoint that declares AuthorizationRequest as a controller method argument. This vulnerability does not expose applications that: Act in the role of an Authorization Server and use the default Approval Endpoint, act in the role of a Resource Server only (e.g. @EnableResourceServer), act in the role of a Client only (e.g. @EnableOAuthClient).

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.34%	2.15%	+1.81%
2	2026-04-29	0.40%	0.34%	-0.06%
3	2025-03-30	—	0.40%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.34%

2.15%

+1.81%

2026-04-29

0.40%

0.34%

-0.06%

2025-03-30

—

0.40%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
9.6	3.0	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	3.1	5.8	[email protected]
8.1	3.0	HIGH	`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:H) Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	2.2	5.9	[email protected]
6.8	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:M) Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones. Authentication (AU:N) No authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:P) Partial confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:P) Partial integrity impact. Availability impact (A:P) Partial availability impact.	8.6	6.4	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

9.6

3.0

CRITICAL

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

3.1

5.8

[email protected]

8.1

3.0

HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H): Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

2.2

5.9

[email protected]

6.8

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M): Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N): No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P): Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P): Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P): Partial availability impact.

8.6

6.4

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-15758

vendor	priority	summary	link
`redhat`	high	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-15758

vendor

priority

summary

link

redhat

high

—

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-15758

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-15758

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
pivotal_software	spring_security_oauth	<= 1.0.5	cpe:2.3:a:pivotal_software:spring_security_oauth::::::::
pivotal_software	spring_security_oauth	>= 2.0.0, < 2.0.16	cpe:2.3:a:pivotal_software:spring_security_oauth::::::::
pivotal_software	spring_security_oauth	>= 2.1.0, < 2.1.3	cpe:2.3:a:pivotal_software:spring_security_oauth::::::::
pivotal_software	spring_security_oauth	>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.3	cpe:2.3:a:pivotal_software:spring_security_oauth::::::::
pivotal_software	spring_security_oauth	>= 2.3.0, < 2.3.4	cpe:2.3:a:pivotal_software:spring_security_oauth::::::::

References for CVE-2018-15758

URL	Tags
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105687	Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2413
https://pivotal.io/security/cve-2018-15758	Mitigation Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2018-15758 | Privilege Escalation in spring-security-oauth2

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-15758

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-15758

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-15758

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2018-15758

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-15758

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-15758

References for CVE-2018-15758