CVE-2020-17521

Apache Groovy provides extension methods to aid with creating temporary directories. Prior to this fix, Groovy's implementation of those extension methods was using a now superseded Java JDK method call that is potentially not secure on some operating systems in some contexts. Users not using the extension methods mentioned in the advisory are not affected, but may wish to read the advisory for further details. Versions Affected: 2.0 to 2.4.20, 2.5.0 to 2.5.13, 3.0.0 to 3.0.6, and 4.0.0-alpha-1. Fixed in versions 2.4.21, 2.5.14, 3.0.7, 4.0.0-alpha-2.

Published: 2020-12-07 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-17521 is rated Moderate Risk (41.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.05%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule 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-2020-17521

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 2.43% 1.05% -1.38%
2 2026-03-21 1.79% 2.43% +0.64%
3 2026-03-04 1.79%

Full EPSS history (27 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-17521

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]
2.1 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
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:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
3.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-17521

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-17521

GHSA-rcjj-h6gh-jf3r · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: maven — Information Disclosure in Apache Groovy

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-17521

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-17521 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (groovy), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-17521
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-17521
suse medium CVE-2020-17521 severity moderate: SUSE including 57 source package names (groovy-2.4.21-2.3, groovy-2.4.21-3.3.2, …), 134 product×package rows across 13 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP3, … (13 product lines)): Fixed 134. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-17521/
ubuntu low CVE-2020-17521 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (groovy, groovy2), 32 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 15, ignored 8, needs-triage 7, needed 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-17521

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-17521

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache groovy >= 2.0.0, <= 2.4.20 cpe:2.3:a:apache:groovy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache groovy >= 2.5.0, <= 2.5.13 cpe:2.3:a:apache:groovy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache groovy >= 3.0.0, <= 3.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:apache:groovy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache groovy 4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:groovy:4.0.0:alpha1:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp snapcenter cpe:2.3:a:netapp:snapcenter:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle agile_engineering_data_management 6.2.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:agile_engineering_data_management:6.2.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle agile_plm 9.3.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:agile_plm:9.3.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle agile_plm 9.3.6 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:agile_plm:9.3.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle agile_plm_mcad_connector 3.4 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:agile_plm_mcad_connector:3.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle agile_plm_mcad_connector 3.6 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:agile_plm_mcad_connector:3.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle business_process_management_suite 12.2.1.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:business_process_management_suite:12.2.1.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle business_process_management_suite 12.2.1.4.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:business_process_management_suite:12.2.1.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_brm_-_elastic_charging_engine 11.3.0.9.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_brm_-_elastic_charging_engine:11.3.0.9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_brm_-_elastic_charging_engine 12.0.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_brm_-_elastic_charging_engine:12.0.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_diameter_signaling_router 8.4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_diameter_signaling_router:8.4.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_evolved_communications_application_server 7.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_evolved_communications_application_server:7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_services_gatekeeper 6.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_services_gatekeeper:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_services_gatekeeper 6.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_services_gatekeeper:6.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_services_gatekeeper 7.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_services_gatekeeper:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle healthcare_data_repository 7.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:healthcare_data_repository:7.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle hospitality_opera_5 5.6 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:hospitality_opera_5:5.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle ilearning 6.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:ilearning:6.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle ilearning 6.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:ilearning:6.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle insurance_policy_administration >= 11.0, <= 11.3.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:insurance_policy_administration:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle jd_edwards_enterpriseone_orchestrator 9.2.6.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:jd_edwards_enterpriseone_orchestrator:9.2.6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle primavera_gateway >= 17.12.0, <= 17.12.10 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:primavera_gateway:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle primavera_unifier >= 17.7, <= 17.12 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:primavera_unifier:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle primavera_unifier 16.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:primavera_unifier:16.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle primavera_unifier 16.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:primavera_unifier:16.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle primavera_unifier 18.8 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:primavera_unifier:18.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle primavera_unifier 19.12 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:primavera_unifier:19.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle primavera_unifier 20.12 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:primavera_unifier:20.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_bulk_data_integration 15.0.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_bulk_data_integration:15.0.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_bulk_data_integration 16.0.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_bulk_data_integration:16.0.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_merchandising_system 16.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_merchandising_system:16.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_store_inventory_management 14.1.3.10 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_store_inventory_management:14.1.3.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_store_inventory_management 15.0.3.5 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_store_inventory_management:15.0.3.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_store_inventory_management 16.0.3.5 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_store_inventory_management:16.0.3.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache atlas 2.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:atlas:2.1.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-17521

URL Tags
https://groovy-lang.org/security.html#CVE-2020-17521 Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r4b2f13c302eec98838ff7475253091fb9b75bc1038016ba00ebf6c08%40%3Cdev.atlas.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ra9dab34bf8625511f23692ad0fcee2725f782e9aad6c5cdff6cf4465%40%3Cnotifications.groovy.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rea63a4666ba245d2892471307772a2d8ce0f0741f341d6576625c1b3%40%3Cdev.atlas.apache.org%3E
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20201218-0006/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com//security-alerts/cpujul2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence