CVE-2020-5245 | Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in dropwizard-validation

Exp

Dropwizard-Validation before 1.3.19, and 2.0.2 may allow arbitrary code execution on the host system, with the privileges of the Dropwizard service account, by injecting arbitrary Java Expression Language expressions when using the self-validating feature. The issue has been fixed in dropwizard-validation 1.3.19 and 2.0.2.

Published: 2020-02-24 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-5245 is rated High Exploit Risk (73/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.81%). 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-2020-5245

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-5245

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 6.00% 2.81% -3.19%
2 2026-05-31 6.30% 6.00% -0.30%
3 2025-11-29 — 6.30% —

Full EPSS history (30 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-5245

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.9 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L 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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 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]
9.0 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-2020-5245

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-5245

GHSA-3mcp-9wr4-cjqf · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in dropwizard-validation

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-5245

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
dropwizard dropwizard_validation < 1.3.19 cpe:2.3:a:dropwizard:dropwizard_validation:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
dropwizard dropwizard_validation >= 2.0.0, < 2.0.2 cpe:2.3:a:dropwizard:dropwizard_validation:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle blockchain_platform < 21.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:blockchain_platform:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-5245

URL Tags
https://beanvalidation.org/2.0/spec/#validationapi-message-defaultmessageinterpolation Third Party Advisory
https://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/validator/6.1/reference/en-US/html_single/#section-interpolation-with-message-expressions Third Party Advisory
https://docs.oracle.com/javaee/7/tutorial/jsf-el.htm Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/commit/28479f743a9d0aab6d0e963fc07f3dd98e8c8236
https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/commit/d87d1e4f8e20f6494c0232bf8560c961b46db634 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/pull/3157 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/pull/3160 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/security/advisories/GHSA-3mcp-9wr4-cjqf Exploit Third Party Advisory
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