CVE-2020-25638

A flaw was found in hibernate-core in versions prior to and including 5.4.23.Final. A SQL injection in the implementation of the JPA Criteria API can permit unsanitized literals when a literal is used in the SQL comments of the query. This flaw could allow an attacker to access unauthorized information or possibly conduct further attacks. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity.

Published: 2020-12-02 Last update: 2025-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-25638 is rated Moderate Risk (54.7/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.68%). 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-2020-25638

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 2026-04-25 0.63% 0.68% +0.04%
2 2026-04-20 0.84% 0.63% -0.21%
3 2026-03-04 0.84%

Full EPSS history (32 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-25638

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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: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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.2 5.2 [email protected]
7.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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: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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.2 5.2 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
5.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N 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:N)
No availability impact.
8.6 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-25638

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-25638

GHSA-j8jw-g6fq-mp7h · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — SQL injection in hibernate-core

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-25638

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-25638 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libhibernate3-java), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-25638
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-25638
suse high https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-25638/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-25638 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libhibernate3-java), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 5, released 4, not-affected 3, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-25638

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-25638

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
hibernate hibernate_orm < 5.3.20 cpe:2.3:a:hibernate:hibernate_orm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
hibernate hibernate_orm >= 5.4.0, < 5.4.24 cpe:2.3:a:hibernate:hibernate_orm:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
quarkus quarkus <= 1.9.2 cpe:2.3:a:quarkus:quarkus:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_console 1.9.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_console:1.9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_customer_management_and_segmentation_foundation 19.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_customer_management_and_segmentation_foundation:19.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-25638

cvelogic Threat Intelligence