CVE-2020-11629
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAn issue was discovered in EJBCA before 6.15.2.6 and 7.x before 7.3.1.2. The External Command Certificate Validator, which allows administrators to upload external linters to validate certificates, is supposed to save uploaded test certificates to the server. An attacker who has gained access to the CA UI could exploit this to upload malicious scripts to the server. (Risks associated with this issue alone are negligible unless a malicious user already has gained access to the CA UI through other means, as a trusted user is already trusted to upload scripts by virtue of having access to the validator.)
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceIn EJBCA before 6.15.2.6 and 7.x before 7.3.1.2, the External Command Certificate Validator component lacks proper input validation on file uploads, allowing an authenticated CA UI administrator to upload malicious scripts to the server file system. This arbitrary file write capability can be exploited to achieve remote code execution.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 6.15.2.6>= 7.0.0, < 7.3.1.2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine installed EJBCA versionCheck the EJBCA admin UI version footer, or inspect the build file (pom.xml, build.gradle) in the EJBCA installation directory, or query the EJBCA REST API for version informationAffected if The version is below 6.15.2.6, or is 7.0.0 through 7.3.1.1 (inclusive)
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Verify External Command Certificate Validator is configuredLog in to the CA UI as an administrator and navigate to Certificate Validators > External Command Certificate Validator. Check if any external command validators exist and note their configuration settingsAffected if One or more External Command Certificate Validator instances are enabled and configured on the system
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Confirm CA UI administrator access existsReview the list of administrators with CA UI access through the EJBCA admin interface under System Configuration > Administrators. Verify which roles have access to the Certificate Validator management functionsAffected if There are active administrator accounts with access to the CA UI and Certificate Validator management (this is the authentication prerequisite for exploitation)
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Inspect file system for unexpected scripts in EJBCA directoriesSearch the EJBCA application server's file system for newly created script files (especially .sh, .bat, .ps1, .jar files) in the EJBCA conf/, bin/, or temporary upload directories that do not match known deployment artifactsAffected if Unexpected script or executable files are found that were not part of the original EJBCA installation (potential indicator of prior exploitation)
A user is affected if their EJBCA version falls within the vulnerable range AND the External Command Certificate Validator feature is enabled, since the attacker needs both the vulnerable version and the feature to be present to upload malicious scripts.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data6.15.2.67.3.1.2
Upgrade EJBCA to version 6.15.2.6/7.3.1.2 or later. Additionally, limit CA UI administrative access to trusted personnel only and audit existing admin accounts, as the vulnerability requires prior authentication to the CA UI.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11629 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-11629 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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