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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 15 Apr 2022.
KylinApplication · Apache

CVE-2020-1956

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-05-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.6.5 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
Apache Kylin 2.3.0, and releases up to 2.6.5 and 3.0.1 has some restful apis which will concatenate os command with the user input string, a user is likely to be able to execute any os command without any protection or validation.

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 · high confidence

Apache Kylin versions 2.3.0 through 2.6.5 and 3.0.1 contain a critical OS command injection vulnerability in certain RESTful API endpoints. These APIs directly concatenate user input strings into OS commands without any validation, sanitization, or use of parameterized commands, allowing authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands.

MitigationUpgrade Apache Kylin to a patched version beyond 3.0.1. If immediate patching is not feasible, identify and disable the affected RESTful endpoints, implement strict input validation, and apply network segmentation to limit exposure to trusted users only.

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
KylinApplication
Affected:>= 2.3.0, <= 2.3.2>= 2.5.0, <= 2.5.2>= 2.6.0, <= 2.6.5= 2.4.0= 2.4.1= 3.0.0= 3.0.1

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Apache Kylin version
    Locate the Kylin installation directory and check the version file or use the Kylin REST API endpoint /kylin/api/version to retrieve the version number. Common locations include the conf/kylin.properties file or the kylin_version file in the installation root.
    Affected if The installed version falls within these ranges: 2.3.0-2.3.2, 2.4.0-2.4.1, 2.5.0-2.5.2, 2.6.0-2.6.5, or is exactly 3.0.0 or 3.0.1.
  2. Verify RESTful API accessibility
    Confirm that the Kylin RESTful API endpoints are accessible over the network. Check the server configuration (typically in conf/kylin.properties) for the kylin.server.host and kylin.server.port settings, and verify network exposure using tools like curl or by reviewing firewall rules.
    Affected if The RESTful API port is exposed to untrusted networks or the Kylin web interface is accessible from outside the local host.
  3. Check authentication configuration
    Review the security configuration in conf/kylin.properties for kylin.security.enabled and related authentication settings. Verify whether anonymous access is permitted or if weak/default credentials are in use.
    Affected if Authentication is disabled or uses default/weak credentials, allowing unauthorized authenticated access to the RESTful APIs.
  4. Identify enabled command-execution features
    Examine the Kylin configuration for features that invoke OS commands, particularly custom UDFs (User-Defined Functions), job scripts, or cube build configurations that may execute shell commands based on user input.
    Affected if Custom UDFs, external job runners, or scripts that execute OS commands are configured and accessible through the REST API.

You are affected if you are running any Apache Kylin version from 2.3.0 to 2.6.5 or versions 3.0.0-3.0.1, with accessible RESTful APIs and users who can submit requests to endpoints that execute OS commands.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.6.5
Vendor patch lists.apache.org →
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Apache Kylin to a patched version beyond 3.0.1. If immediate patching is not feasible, identify and disable the affected RESTful endpoints, implement strict input validation, and apply network segmentation to limit exposure to trusted users only.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Apache Kylin 2.6.6+ or 3.0.2+ (latest stable 3.x release recommended)

  1. 1. Back up your existing Kylin configuration, metadata, and data directories
  2. 2. Stop the Kylin service
  3. 3. Download Apache Kylin version 2.6.6 or later (or 3.0.2 or later for the 3.x line) from the official Apache Kylin download page
  4. 4. Install the new version following the standard Apache Kylin installation documentation
  5. 5. Restore your backed-up configuration and metadata
  6. 6. Start the Kylin service
  7. 7. Verify the service is running correctly and test the affected RESTful API endpoints to confirm the vulnerability is fixed
Caveat Review release notes for migration requirements between minor versions; test thoroughly in staging before production deployment

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Kylin Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
42.0 hours of engineering $7,360
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-1956 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data