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ConductorApplication · Netflix

CVE-2020-9296

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-06-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.25.3 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
Netflix Titus uses Java Bean Validation (JSR 380) custom constraint validators. When building custom constraint violation error messages, different types of interpolation are supported, including Java EL expressions. If an attacker can inject arbitrary data in the error message template being passed to ConstraintValidatorContext.buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate() argument, they will be able to run arbitrary Java code.

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

Netflix Titus uses Java Bean Validation (JSR 380) with custom constraint validators. When error messages are built via ConstraintValidatorContext.buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate(), user-controlled input is passed to the template argument, which supports Java EL expression interpolation. An attacker who can influence this input can inject malicious EL expressions to achieve arbitrary code execution (RCE).

MitigationEnsure all input passed to buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate() is properly sanitized or escape special characters to prevent EL expression injection. Alternatively, disable EL interpolation or use a safer message interpolation mechanism that does not evaluate expressions.

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
ConductorApplication
Affected:<= 2.25.3

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
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 installed Netflix Conductor version
    Locate the Conductor JAR or WAR file, or check the build artifact (pom.xml, build.gradle) for the conductor version. Common locations: /opt/conductor/, the application's lib directory, or the project dependencies file.
    Affected if The installed version is 2.25.3 or lower.
  2. Locate custom ConstraintValidator implementations
    Search the codebase for Java classes that implement javax.validation.ConstraintValidator. Look for files containing 'implements ConstraintValidator'. Common patterns: src/main/java/**/*Validator.java
    Affected if Custom constraint validators exist in the application.
  3. Check for buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate usage
    Search for calls to ConstraintValidatorContext.buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate() within the validator classes found in the previous step. Use grep or IDE search for this method call.
    Affected if The method is called with unvalidated user-controlled input as its argument.
  4. Trace user input to validator context
    Review the validator code to determine whether request parameters, form fields, API payload fields, or other user-supplied data flow into the buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate() template argument without sanitization.
    Affected if User input directly reaches the template argument of buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate().

You are affected if Netflix Conductor version is 2.25.3 or lower AND custom constraint validators pass unsanitized user input to buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate().

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 2.25.3
Interim mitigation

Ensure all input passed to buildConstraintViolationWithTemplate() is properly sanitized or escape special characters to prevent EL expression injection. Alternatively, disable EL interpolation or use a safer message interpolation mechanism that does not evaluate expressions.

Recommended fix High confidence

Conductor 2.26.0 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current Netflix Conductor version in use (check pom.xml, docker image tags, or running service version)
  2. 2. Back up current configuration and data
  3. 3. Update the Conductor dependency or pull the new Docker image for version 2.26.0 or later
  4. 4. Review release notes for version 2.26.0 to check for required migration steps
  5. 5. Deploy the upgraded version to a staging environment first
  6. 6. Test application functionality thoroughly
  7. 7. Deploy to production
Caveat Review Conductor 2.26.0 release notes for any breaking changes or migration requirements before upgrading

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

Fix this in Conductor Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation10.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
42.0 hours of engineering $7,460
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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-2020-9296 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