CVE-2020-13936 | Velocity Sandbox Bypass

An attacker that is able to modify Velocity templates may execute arbitrary Java code or run arbitrary system commands with the same privileges as the account running the Servlet container. This applies to applications that allow untrusted users to upload/modify velocity templates running Apache Velocity Engine versions up to 2.2.

Published: 2021-03-10 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-13936 is rated High Risk (74.3/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 22.71%, 97th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +6.31% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2020-13936

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 2026-06-15 16.40% 22.71% +6.31%
2 2026-06-10 16.76% 16.40% -0.36%
3 2026-05-28 16.76%

Full EPSS history (54 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-13936

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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: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: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.
2.8 5.9 [email protected]
9.0 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
8.0 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-13936

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-13936

GHSA-59j4-wjwp-mw9m · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Sandbox Bypass in Apache Velocity Engine

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-13936

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-13936 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (velocity), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-13936
gentoo normal CVE-2020-13936: 1 GLSA(s) (202107-52), 1 atom(s) (dev-java/velocity); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-13936
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-13936
suse high CVE-2020-13936 severity important: SUSE including 334 source package names (3.3.2-2.3:snakeyaml-1.31-150200.3.8.1, 5.0.0-beta1.2.122:snakeyaml-1.31-150200.3.8.1, …), 677 product×package rows across 51 product lines (Container containers/apache-pulsar, Container suse/manager/5.0/x86_64/server, … (51 product lines)): Fixed 446, Known Affected 231. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-13936/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-13936 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (velocity), 11 status rows across 11 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 4, released 3, not-affected 2, DNE 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-13936

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-13936

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache velocity_engine < 2.3 cpe:2.3:a:apache:velocity_engine:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache wss4j 2.3.1 cpe:2.3:a:apache:wss4j:2.3.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_deposits_and_lines_of_credit_servicing 2.12.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_deposits_and_lines_of_credit_servicing:2.12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_enterprise_default_management >= 2.3.0, <= 2.4.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_enterprise_default_management:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_enterprise_default_management 2.6.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_enterprise_default_management:2.6.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_enterprise_default_management 2.7.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_enterprise_default_management:2.7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_enterprise_default_management 2.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_enterprise_default_management:2.10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_enterprise_default_management 2.12.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_enterprise_default_management:2.12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_loans_servicing 2.12.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_loans_servicing:2.12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_party_management 2.7.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_party_management:2.7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_platform >= 2.3.0, <= 2.4.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_platform:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_platform 2.6.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_platform:2.6.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_platform 2.7.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_platform:2.7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_policy 1.14.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_policy:1.14.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_network_integrity 7.3.6 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_network_integrity:7.3.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle hospitality_token_proxy_service 19.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:hospitality_token_proxy_service:19.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_integration_bus 19.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_integration_bus:19.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_order_broker 16.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_order_broker:16.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_service_backbone 19.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_service_backbone:19.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_xstore_office_cloud_service 16.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_xstore_office_cloud_service:16.0.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_xstore_office_cloud_service 17.0.4 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_xstore_office_cloud_service:17.0.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_xstore_office_cloud_service 18.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_xstore_office_cloud_service:18.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_xstore_office_cloud_service 19.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_xstore_office_cloud_service:19.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_xstore_office_cloud_service 20.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_xstore_office_cloud_service:20.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle utilities_testing_accelerator 6.0.0.1.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:utilities_testing_accelerator:6.0.0.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle utilities_testing_accelerator 6.0.0.2.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:utilities_testing_accelerator:6.0.0.2.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle utilities_testing_accelerator 6.0.0.3.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:utilities_testing_accelerator:6.0.0.3.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-13936

URL Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/03/10/1 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r01043f584cbd47959fabe18fff64de940f81a65024bb8dddbda31d9a%40%3Cuser.velocity.apache.org%3E Mailing List Vendor Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r0bc98e9cd080b4a13b905c571b9bed87e1a0878d44dbf21487c6cca4%40%3Cdev.santuario.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r17cb932fab14801b14e5b97a7f05192f4f366ef260c10d4a8dba8ac9%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r293284c6806c73f51098001ea86a14271c39f72cd76af9e946d9d9ad%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r39de20c7e9c808b1f96790875d33e58c9c0aabb44fd9227e7b3dc5da%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r3ea4c4c908505b20a4c268330dfe7188b90c84dcf777728d02068ae6%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r4cd59453b65d4ac290fcb3b71fdf32b4f1f8989025e89558deb5a245%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r52a5129df402352adc34d052bab9234c8ef63596306506a89fdc7328%40%3Cusers.activemq.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r7f209b837217d2a0fe5977fb692e7f15d37fa5de8214bcdc4c21d9a7%40%3Ccommits.turbine.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9dc2505651788ac668299774d9e7af4dc616be2f56fdc684d1170882%40%3Cusers.activemq.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb042f3b0090e419cc9f5a3d32cf0baff283ccd6fcb1caea61915d6b6%40%3Ccommits.velocity.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rbee7270556f4172322936b5ecc9fabf0c09f00d4fa56c9de1963c340%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd2a89e17e8a9b451ce655f1a34117752ea1d18a22ce580d8baa824fd%40%3Ccommits.druid.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd7e865c87f9043c21d9c1fd9d4df866061d9a08cfc322771160d8058%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/re641197d204765130618086238c73dd2ce5a3f94b33785b587d72726%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/re8e7482fe54d289fc0229e61cc64947b63b12c3c312e9f25bf6f3b8c%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/reab5978b54a9f4c078402161e30a89c42807b198814acadbe6c862c7%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf7d369de88dc88a1347006a3323b3746d849234db40a8edfd5ebc436%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/03/msg00019.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202107-52 Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
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