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Vantara PentahoApplication · Hitachi

CVE-2020-24665

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-01-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.1.0.25 / 8.2.0.6 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
The Dashboard Editor in Hitachi Vantara Pentaho through 7.x - 8.x contains an XML Entity Expansion injection vulnerability, which allows an authenticated remote users to trigger a denial of service (DoS) condition. Specifically, the vulnerability lies in the 'dashboardXml' parameter. Remediated in >= 7.1.0.25, >= 8.2.0.6, >= 8.3.0.0 GA

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

XML Entity Expansion injection (a form of XXE) in the Dashboard Editor's 'dashboardXml' parameter allows authenticated remote users to send specially crafted XML with deeply nested entities that expand exponentially, causing resource exhaustion and denial of service. This is a well-known attack pattern where the XML parser expands entities recursively until system resources are depleted.

MitigationUpgrade Pentaho to version 7.1.0.25+, 8.2.0.6+, or 8.3.0.0+ where the vulnerability is remediated. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict access to the Dashboard Editor to only trusted authenticated users and implement XML input validation/sanitization at the application layer.

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
Vantara PentahoApplication
Affected:>= 7.0.0, < 7.1.0.25>= 8.0.0, < 8.2.0.6

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 installed Pentaho version
    Locate the Pentaho version file (typically in biserver-ce/pentahosolutions/system/version.txt or via the Pentaho Administration Console). Compare the version number to the affected ranges: 7.0.0 through 7.1.0.24, or 8.0.0 through 8.2.0.5.
    Affected if The installed version falls within 7.0.0 to <7.1.0.25 or 8.0.0 to <8.2.0.6.
  2. Confirm Dashboard Editor is enabled
    Check the Pentaho configuration files (particularly in biserver-ce/pentaho-solutions/system/pentahoObjects.spring.xml or similar) for the Dashboard Editor module configuration. Ensure the dashboard editor feature is not explicitly disabled.
    Affected if Dashboard Editor is enabled and accessible in the Pentaho BI Platform.
  3. Identify Dashboard Editor endpoint accessibility
    Locate the web.xml or spring configuration files that define the Dashboard Editor servlet/endpoint. Check if the /pentaho/content/dashboard/ or related Dashboard Editor URLs are publicly accessible without additional restrictions.
    Affected if The Dashboard Editor endpoint is reachable over the network.
  4. Verify authentication requirements for Dashboard Editor
    Review pentaho.xml or the security configuration to confirm what authentication providers are enforced for Dashboard Editor access. Check if anonymous access is permitted to the vulnerable endpoint.
    Affected if Authenticated access is required, but the authentication mechanism itself is the only barrier (the vulnerability exists within the authenticated function).
  5. Inspect XML processing configuration
    Examine the Pentaho XML parser configuration (often in pentaho-solutions/system or lib configuration) for XXE protection settings. Look for external entity and DTD processing configurations in the XML parser initialization.
    Affected if XML parser allows expansion of external entities or DTD processing without restrictions.

You are affected if your Pentaho version is 7.0.0 to <7.1.0.25 or 8.0.0 to <8.2.0.6 AND the Dashboard Editor is enabled and accessible to authenticated users, since the XXE vulnerability resides in the authenticated dashboardXml parameter processing.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 7.1.0.25 / 8.2.0.6 or later
Fixed in 7.1.0.258.2.0.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Pentaho to version 7.1.0.25+, 8.2.0.6+, or 8.3.0.0+ where the vulnerability is remediated. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict access to the Dashboard Editor to only trusted authenticated users and implement XML input validation/sanitization at the application layer.

Fix this in Vantara Pentaho Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing5.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,790
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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-2020-24665 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
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