CVE-2020-15817
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 · uneditedIn JetBrains YouTrack before 2020.1.1331, an external user could execute commands against arbitrary issues.
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 JetBrains YouTrack versions prior to 2020.1.1331, a broken access control vulnerability allowed external (unauthenticated or unauthorized) users to execute commands on any issue in the system, regardless of proper permission boundaries. This represents a critical authorization bypass where the authentication layer failed to enforce access controls on issue command operations.
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< 2020.1.1331CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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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Identify YouTrack installationLocate the YouTrack installation and determine its version. In the web UI, go to Administration > Settings > Application info, or check the version.txt file in the YouTrack installation directory.Affected if YouTrack version is below 2020.1.1331
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Verify version against affected rangeCompare the installed YouTrack version number to the affected range. Versions prior to 2020.1.1331 are vulnerable.Affected if Installed version is less than 2020.1.1331
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Assess network exposureDetermine if the YouTrack server is accessible from external networks or untrusted users. Check firewall rules, reverse proxy configuration, and whether the server has a public IP or domain reachable from the internet.Affected if YouTrack is reachable from external or untrusted networks without VPN or other network-level access controls
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Review authentication configurationExamine YouTrack authentication settings in Administration > Authentication. Verify that external users are required to authenticate and that anonymous access is properly restricted.Affected if Anonymous access is enabled or external users can reach the issue command API without valid authentication
A YouTrack instance is affected if it runs a version prior to 2020.1.1331 AND is accessible to external or unauthenticated users who could exploit the authorization bypass in issue command operations.
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 data2020.1.1331
Upgrade YouTrack to version 2020.1.1331 or later to patch the authorization bypass. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement network-level access controls to restrict YouTrack exposure to untrusted external users.
- 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-2020-15817 — 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-2020-15817 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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