CVE-2020-27196

An issue was discovered in PlayJava in Play Framework 2.6.0 through 2.8.2. The body parsing of HTTP requests eagerly parses a payload given a Content-Type header. A deep JSON structure sent to a valid POST endpoint (that may or may not expect JSON payloads) causes a StackOverflowError and Denial of Service.

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

CVE-2020-27196 is rated Moderate Risk (54.9/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.39%). 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-2020-27196

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 0.53% 1.39% +0.86%
2 2025-03-30 1.47% 0.53% -0.94%
3 2025-03-29 — 1.47% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-27196

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-27196

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-27196

GHSA-h48w-c35p-6m8x · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Out-of-bounds Write in Play Framework

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-27196

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
lightbend play_framework <= 2.6.25 cpe:2.3:a:lightbend:play_framework:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
lightbend play_framework >= 2.7.0, <= 2.7.5 cpe:2.3:a:lightbend:play_framework:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
lightbend play_framework >= 2.8.0, <= 2.8.2 cpe:2.3:a:lightbend:play_framework:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-27196

cvelogic Threat Intelligence