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ShiroApplication · Apache

CVE-2020-1957

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.5.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 Shiro before 1.5.2, when using Apache Shiro with Spring dynamic controllers, a specially crafted request may cause an authentication bypass.

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 confidence

Apache Shiro before version 1.5.2 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability when configured to work with Spring dynamic controllers. An attacker can craft a specific request pattern to bypass authentication checks and gain unauthorized access to protected resources.

MitigationUpgrade Apache Shiro to version 1.5.2 or later. If immediate upgrade is not possible, review and restrict Spring controller mappings or implement additional authentication layer controls.

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
ShiroApplication
Affected:< 1.5.2
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 Shiro version
    Review your application's dependency management file (pom.xml for Maven, build.gradle for Gradle) or the Shiro JAR file in your classpath to determine the installed Shiro version
    Affected if The version is lower than 1.5.2 (for example, 1.5.0, 1.4.x, or earlier)
  2. Confirm Spring framework integration
    Review your application configuration files and determine if Shiro is configured to work with Spring dynamic controllers. Check Spring context XML files or Java-based configuration classes for Shiro filter bean definitions that interact with Spring MVC
    Affected if Shiro is integrated with Spring MVC controllers and the request pattern matches the bypass condition (specific crafted URLs can bypass the authentication filter)
  3. Check for vulnerable request patterns
    Inspect your application's URL routing configuration to identify patterns that could exploit the bypass. The vulnerability allows requests with a semicolon character followed by a path segment to bypass the Shiro authentication filter when Spring dynamic controllers are in use
    Affected if Your application exposes authenticated endpoints through Spring controllers that could be accessed using a specially crafted URL containing a semicolon character before the expected path
  4. Verify Debian package version
    If using Debian-packaged Shiro, check the installed package version using dpkg or apt list commands for shiro or libshiro-java
    Affected if The Debian package version is earlier than the fixed version available for Debian 8.0

You are affected if Apache Shiro version 1.5.2 or later is not in use AND the application is configured with Spring dynamic controllers using Shiro for authentication, allowing specially crafted URLs with semicolons to bypass security checks.

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 1.5.2 or later
Fixed in 1.5.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Apache Shiro to version 1.5.2 or later. If immediate upgrade is not possible, review and restrict Spring controller mappings or implement additional authentication layer controls.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apache Shiro 1.5.2 (minimum); recommend latest 1.x stable release

  1. Upgrade Apache Shiro to version 1.5.2 or later to resolve the authentication bypass vulnerability
  2. If using Maven, update the shiro-core dependency in pom.xml to version 1.5.2 or higher
  3. If using Gradle, update the dependency: implementation 'org.apache.shiro:shiro-core:1.5.2' or later
  4. After upgrading, verify that authentication is properly enforced on all protected endpoints
  5. Test with the vulnerable pattern (Spring dynamic controller requests) to confirm the fix is effective
  6. Consider upgrading to the latest stable 1.x release (currently 1.13.0) for additional security fixes
Caveat Shiro 1.5.x introduced some path matching changes - review release notes and test thoroughly before deploying to production

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

Fix this in Shiro Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
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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-2020-1957 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