Cyber Resilience

CVE-2020-13959

Medium

Published: 10 March 2021

Published
10 March 2021
Modified
21 November 2024
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 6.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0321 87.3th percentile
Risk Priority 14 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2020-13959 is a medium-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Apache Velocity Tools. Its CVSS base score is 6.1 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked in the top 12.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

The default error page for VelocityView in Apache Velocity Tools prior to 3.1 reflects back the vm file that was entered as part of the URL. An attacker can set an XSS payload file as this vm file in the…

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URL which results in this payload being executed. XSS vulnerabilities allow attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the attacked website and the attacked user. This can be abused to steal session cookies, perform requests in the name of the victim or for phishing attacks.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.

Affected Assets

apache
velocity tools
≤ 3.1
debian
debian linux
9.0

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-79

Penetration testing submits XSS payloads to web applications, detecting cross-site scripting flaws for subsequent remediation.

addresses: CWE-79

Validates web inputs to reject script-related content that could produce XSS.

addresses: CWE-79

Output validation against expected content can reject or sanitize script content in generated web pages, reducing XSS exploitability.

References