Broken Access Control in Spring Security With Direct Use of isFullyAuthenticated

Description

In Spring Security, versions 6.1.x prior to 6.1.7 and versions 6.2.x prior to 6.2.2, an application is vulnerable to broken access control when it directly uses the AuthenticationTrustResolver.isFullyAuthenticated(Authentication) method.

Specifically, an application is vulnerable if:

  • The application uses AuthenticationTrustResolver.isFullyAuthenticated(Authentication) directly and a null authentication parameter is passed to it resulting in an erroneous true return value.

An application is not vulnerable if any of the following is true:

  • The application does not use AuthenticationTrustResolver.isFullyAuthenticated(Authentication) directly.
  • The application does not pass null to AuthenticationTrustResolver.isFullyAuthenticated
  • The application only uses isFullyAuthenticated via Method Security https://docs.spring.io/spring-security/reference/servlet/authorization/method-security.html  or HTTP Request Security https://docs.spring.io/spring-security/reference/servlet/authorization/authorize-http-requests.html

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
high
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2024-02-20 09:30:30 UTC
Updated
2026-03-14 05:09:02 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2024-02-21 00:17:30 UTC
NVD published
2024-02-20

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
1.66% 81.80%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
7.4 3.1
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.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-284 Improper Access Control

Credits

  • oscerd (analyst)

Affected packages (2)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
maven org.springframework.security:spring-security-core >= 6.1.0, < 6.1.7 6.1.7
maven org.springframework.security:spring-security-core >= 6.2.0, < 6.2.2 6.2.2

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence