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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.
Spring Cloud ConfigFramework / library · VMware

CVE-2020-5410

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-06-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.1.9 / 2.2.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS 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
Spring Cloud Config, versions 2.2.x prior to 2.2.3, versions 2.1.x prior to 2.1.9, and older unsupported versions allow applications to serve arbitrary configuration files through the spring-cloud-config-server module. A malicious user, or attacker, can send a request using a specially crafted URL that can lead to a directory traversal attack.

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

Spring Cloud Config Server versions prior to 2.2.3 and 2.1.9 contain a directory traversal vulnerability allowing attackers to access arbitrary configuration files via specially crafted URLs. The vulnerability exists in the spring-cloud-config-server module and could expose sensitive configuration data, credentials, and secrets.

MitigationUpgrade Spring Cloud Config Server to version 2.2.3+, 2.1.9+, or a supported newer version. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement URL validation to block directory traversal sequences (../) and apply network-level access 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
Spring Cloud ConfigFramework / library
Affected:>= 2.1.0, < 2.1.9>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.3

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 the installed Spring Cloud Config Server version
    Locate the version of spring-cloud-config-server in your project dependency manager (Maven pom.xml, Gradle build.gradle) or the server's runtime startup logs
    Affected if The installed version is 2.1.0 through 2.1.8, or 2.2.0 through 2.2.2
  2. Confirm the config-server module is deployed
    Check if the spring-cloud-config-server artifact is included in your application's classpath or deployed as a standalone service
    Affected if The spring-cloud-config-server module is present in your deployment
  3. Determine if the Config Server HTTP endpoints are network-accessible
    Inspect your network configuration, firewall rules, or service binding to see if the Config Server port (default 8888) is exposed beyond localhost or internal network
    Affected if The Config Server accepts HTTP requests from untrusted networks or external clients
  4. Check for existing URL validation or filtering
    Review any web application firewall (WAF), reverse proxy rules, or application-level input validation that may block directory traversal patterns like ../
    Affected if No traversal sequence filtering is configured and the server is network-accessible

You are affected if your deployed Spring Cloud Config Server version falls within 2.1.0-2.1.8 or 2.2.0-2.2.2 and the server is accessible via HTTP from a network where untrusted users could send crafted URLs.

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 2.1.9 / 2.2.3 or later
Fixed in 2.1.92.2.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Spring Cloud Config Server to version 2.2.3+, 2.1.9+, or a supported newer version. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement URL validation to block directory traversal sequences (../) and apply network-level access controls.

Recommended fix High confidence

Spring Cloud Config 2.1.9 (for 2.1.x branches) or 2.2.3 (for 2.2.x branches)

  1. 1. Identify your current Spring Cloud Config version by checking your pom.xml or build.gradle for the spring-cloud-config-server dependency
  2. 2. If using Spring Cloud Config 2.1.x: upgrade to version 2.1.9 or later by updating the spring-cloud-dependencies version in your pom.xml to Hoxton.SR9 or later
  3. 3. If using Spring Cloud Config 2.2.x: upgrade to version 2.2.3 or later by updating the spring-cloud-dependencies version in your pom.xml to Hoxton.SR4 or later
  4. 4. Rebuild and test your application to ensure the upgrade does not break existing functionality
  5. 5. Verify the fix by attempting to access a path like /..//..// (this should now be blocked)
  6. 6. Deploy the updated application to production
Caveat Patch releases typically contain no breaking changes; verify release notes for any minor behavioral changes

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

Fix this in Spring Cloud Config Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,600
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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-2020-5410 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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