CVE-2020-8160
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 · uneditedMendixSSO <= 2.1.1 contains endpoints that make use of the openid handler, which is suffering from a Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability via the URL path. This is caused by the reflection of user-supplied data without appropriate HTML escaping or output encoding. As a result, a JavaScript payload may be injected into the above endpoint causing it to be executed within the context of the victim's browser.
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 confidenceMendixSSO versions 2.1.1 and below contain a reflected XSS vulnerability in openid handler endpoints where the URL path is reflected back to the user without proper HTML encoding, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary JavaScript that executes in victim browsers.
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<= 2.1.1CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate the MendixSSO module in your applicationSearch your Mendix application project directory for files named 'MendixSSO' or examine your project's 'userlib' folder for JAR files containing 'mendixsso' in the filenameAffected if The MendixSSO module or JAR file is present in your application
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Identify the installed MendixSSO versionExamine the JAR file name in the userlib folder (typically named like 'MendixSSO-[version].jar') or check the module's metadata in your Mendix Modeler project settingsAffected if The version number is 2.1.1 or lower
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Verify openid handler endpoints are exposedCheck your application's deployed endpoints or route configuration for paths matching '/openid/', '/openid/callback', or similar OpenID handler routes that the MendixSSO module exposesAffected if OpenID handler endpoints are accessible and publicly reachable
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Test for URL path reflectionSend a request to an openid endpoint with a malicious path segment (e.g., https://yourapp.com/openid/<script>alert(1)</script>) and inspect the response body to see if the path segment is reflected back without HTML encodingAffected if The URL path or any portion of it is returned in the response without proper encoding (you would see raw <script> tags or other unencoded characters)
You are affected if your application has MendixSSO version 2.1.1 or lower AND the openid handler endpoints are accessible AND user-supplied URL path data is reflected back in responses without HTML encoding.
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 dataUpgrade MendixSSO to a version above 2.1.1, or apply input validation and output encoding to the openid handler endpoints to sanitize user-supplied URL path data before reflection.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8160 — 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-2020-8160 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
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