CVE-2020-9480

In Apache Spark 2.4.5 and earlier, a standalone resource manager's master may be configured to require authentication (spark.authenticate) via a shared secret. When enabled, however, a specially-crafted RPC to the master can succeed in starting an application's resources on the Spark cluster, even without the shared key. This can be leveraged to execute shell commands on the host machine. This does not affect Spark clusters using other resource managers (YARN, Mesos, etc).

Published: 2020-06-23 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-9480 is rated High Risk (71.9/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 88.27%, 100th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2020-9480

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 2026-05-22 90.43% 88.27% -2.16%
2 2026-05-03 90.55% 90.43% -0.12%
3 2026-04-04 — 90.55% —

Full EPSS history (42 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-9480

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 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-2020-9480

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-9480

GHSA-wgx7-jwwm-cgjv · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: maven — Improper Authentication in Apache Spark

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-9480

vendor priority summary link
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-9480

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-9480

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache spark <= 2.4.5 cpe:2.3:a:apache:spark:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle business_intelligence 5.5.0.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:business_intelligence:5.5.0.0.0:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-9480

cvelogic Threat Intelligence