CVE-2020-11989

Apache Shiro before 1.5.3, when using Apache Shiro with Spring dynamic controllers, a specially crafted request may cause an authentication bypass.

Published: 2020-06-22 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-11989 is rated High Risk (74.9/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 84.74%, 99th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-11989

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-07 83.79% 84.74% +0.95%
2 2026-03-04 77.78% 83.79% +6.01%
3 2026-03-01 77.78%

Full EPSS history (33 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-11989

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
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.
3.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/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:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-11989

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-11989

GHSA-72w9-fcj5-3fcg · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: maven — Improper Authentication in Apache Shiro

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-11989

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-11989 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (shiro), 4 status rows across 4 suites (bookworm, bullseye, sid, trixie): resolved 4. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-11989
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-11989
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-11989 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (shiro), 17 status rows across 17 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 7, not-affected 5, released 3, DNE 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-11989

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-11989

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache shiro < 1.5.3 cpe:2.3:a:apache:shiro:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-11989

URL Tags
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r2d2612c034ab21a3a19d2132d47d3e4aa70105008dd58af62b653040%40%3Ccommits.shiro.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r408fe60bc8fdfd7c74135249d646d7abadb807ebf90f6fd2b014df21%40%3Cdev.geode.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r72815a124a119c450b86189767d06848e0d380b1795c6c511d54a675%40%3Cdev.shiro.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r72815a124a119c450b86189767d06848e0d380b1795c6c511d54a675%40%3Cuser.shiro.apache.org%3E Mailing List Vendor Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rab1972d6b177f7b5c3dde9cfb0a40f03bca75f0eaf1d8311e5762cb3%40%3Ccommits.shiro.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rc8b39ea8b3ef71ddc1cd74ffc866546182683c8adecf19c263fe7ac0%40%3Ccommits.shiro.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rcf3d8041e1232201fe5d74fc612a193e435784d64002409b448b58fe%40%3Cdev.geode.apache.org%3E
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