CVE-2020-10199
Published: 01 April 2020
Summary
CVE-2020-10199 is a high-severity Expression Language Injection (CWE-917) vulnerability in Sonatype Nexus. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
Sonatype Nexus Repository versions prior to 3.21.2 contain a Java Expression Language (JavaEL) injection vulnerability, tracked as CWE-917. The flaw resides in the repository manager's handling of certain inputs that are evaluated as EL expressions, affecting the core application component used for artifact storage and management.
An attacker with low-privileged authenticated network access can supply crafted input that triggers remote code execution. The CVSS 3.1 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H indicates that successful exploitation yields complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability without user interaction.
Public exploit code demonstrating remote code execution against version 3.21.1-01 has been posted to PacketStorm, and Sonatype has published remediation guidance at the referenced support article. Upgrading to 3.21.2 or later eliminates the injection issue.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2020-0379
Vulnerability details
Sonatype Nexus Repository before 3.21.2 allows JavaEL Injection (issue 1 of 2).
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 03 November 2021
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires validation and sanitization of all inputs before they are evaluated as JavaEL expressions, blocking the injection vector used for RCE.
Mandates timely application of vendor patches (3.21.2+) that eliminate the JavaEL injection flaw before exploitation can occur.
Restricts the set of privileges granted to authenticated users, limiting the attack surface and potential impact of any successful EL injection.