CVE-2020-26217 | Remote Code Execution in XStream

Exp

XStream before version 1.4.14 is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution.The vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to run arbitrary shell commands only by manipulating the processed input stream. Only users who rely on blocklists are affected. Anyone using XStream's Security Framework allowlist is not affected. The linked advisory provides code workarounds for users who cannot upgrade. The issue is fixed in version 1.4.14.

Published: 2020-11-16 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-26217 is rated High Exploit Risk (76.9/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 85.00%, 100th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-26217

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-26217

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 93.17% 85.00% -8.17%
2 2026-04-29 93.01% 93.17% +0.16%
3 2026-03-10 — 93.01% —

Full EPSS history (28 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-26217

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.0 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.3 6.0 [email protected]
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]
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-26217

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-26217

GHSA-mw36-7c6c-q4q2 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — XStream can be used for Remote Code Execution

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-26217

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-26217 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libxstream-java), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-26217
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-26217
suse high CVE-2020-26217 severity important: SUSE including 305 source package names (5.0.0-beta1.2.122:xpp3-1.1.4c-11.2.2, 5.0.0-beta1.2.122:xpp3-minimal-1.1.4c-11.2.2, …), 375 product×package rows across 31 product lines (Container suse/manager/5.0/x86_64/server, Container suse/multi-linux-manager/5.1/x86_64/server, … (31 product lines)): Known Affected 231, Fixed 144. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-26217/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-26217 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libxstream-java), 14 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 8, released 5, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-26217

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-26217

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xstream xstream < 1.4.14 cpe:2.3:a:xstream:xstream:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp snapmanager — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:snapmanager:*:*:*:*:*:sap:*:*
netapp snapmanager — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:snapmanager:-:-:*:*:*:oracle:*:*
apache activemq < 5.15.14 cpe:2.3:a:apache:activemq:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache activemq 5.16.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:activemq:5.16.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_cash_management 14.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_cash_management:14.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_cash_management 14.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_cash_management:14.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_cash_management 14.5 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_cash_management:14.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_corporate_lending_process_management 14.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_corporate_lending_process_management:14.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_corporate_lending_process_management 14.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_corporate_lending_process_management:14.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_corporate_lending_process_management 14.5 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_corporate_lending_process_management:14.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_credit_facilities_process_management 14.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_credit_facilities_process_management:14.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_credit_facilities_process_management 14.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_credit_facilities_process_management:14.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_credit_facilities_process_management 14.5 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_credit_facilities_process_management:14.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_platform 2.4.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_platform:2.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_platform 2.7.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_platform:2.7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_platform 2.9.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_platform:2.9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_supply_chain_finance 14.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_supply_chain_finance:14.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_supply_chain_finance 14.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_supply_chain_finance:14.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_supply_chain_finance 14.5 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_supply_chain_finance:14.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_trade_finance_process_management 14.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_trade_finance_process_management:14.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_trade_finance_process_management 14.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_trade_finance_process_management:14.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_trade_finance_process_management 14.5 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_trade_finance_process_management:14.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_virtual_account_management 14.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_virtual_account_management:14.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_virtual_account_management 14.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_virtual_account_management:14.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle banking_virtual_account_management 14.5.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:banking_virtual_account_management:14.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle business_activity_monitoring 11.1.1.9.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:business_activity_monitoring:11.1.1.9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle business_activity_monitoring 12.2.1.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:business_activity_monitoring:12.2.1.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle business_activity_monitoring 12.2.1.4.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:business_activity_monitoring:12.2.1.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_policy_management 12.5.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_policy_management:12.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle endeca_information_discovery_studio 3.2.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:endeca_information_discovery_studio:3.2.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_xstore_point_of_service 16.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_xstore_point_of_service:16.0.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_xstore_point_of_service 17.0.4 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_xstore_point_of_service:17.0.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_xstore_point_of_service 18.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_xstore_point_of_service:18.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle retail_xstore_point_of_service 19.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:retail_xstore_point_of_service:19.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-26217

URL Tags
https://github.com/x-stream/xstream/commit/0fec095d534126931c99fd38e9c6d41f5c685c1a Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/x-stream/xstream/security/advisories/GHSA-mw36-7c6c-q4q2 Mitigation Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r2de526726e7f4db4a7cb91b7355070779f51a84fd985c6529c2f4e9e%40%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E Issue Tracking Mailing List
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r7c9fc255edc0b9cd9567093d131f6d33fde4c662aaf912460ef630e9%40%3Ccommits.camel.apache.org%3E Issue Tracking Mailing List
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r826a006fda71cc96fc87b6eca4b5d195f19a292ad36cea501682c38c%40%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E Issue Tracking Mailing List
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/redde3609b89b2a4ff18b536a06ef9a77deb93d47fda8ed28086fa8c3%40%3Cissues.activemq.apache.org%3E Issue Tracking Mailing List
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00001.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210409-0004/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4811 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 Not Applicable Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html Not Applicable Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://x-stream.github.io/CVE-2020-26217.html Exploit Mitigation Vendor Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence