Security Resilience

CVE-2020-5410

Path Traversal in Vmware Spring Cloud Config 2.1.0 – 2.1.9

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPath Traversal
Published
02 June 2020
Modified
03 November 2025
KEV Added
25 March 2022
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.96 99.9th percentile
Risk Priority 84 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2020-5410 is a high-severity Relative Path Traversal (CWE-23) vulnerability in Vmware Spring Cloud Config. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 0.1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

Spring Cloud Config versions 2.2.x prior to 2.2.3, 2.1.x prior to 2.1.9, and older unsupported releases are affected by a directory traversal vulnerability in the spring-cloud-config-server module. The flaw allows the server to expose arbitrary configuration files when processing requests, corresponding to CWE-22 and CWE-23 with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 reflecting network-accessible confidentiality impact without authentication.

An unauthenticated attacker can exploit the issue by submitting a request containing a specially crafted URL path. Successful traversal grants read access to files outside the intended configuration directories, enabling disclosure of sensitive application data stored on the server.

The Tanzu VMware security advisory at the referenced URL details the affected versions and remediation steps, while CISA lists CVE-2020-5410 in its catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities, confirming observed in-the-wild attacks.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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…

more

crafted URL that can lead to a directory traversal attack.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
25 March 2022

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001 Data Obfuscation Command And Control
Adversaries may obfuscate command and control traffic to make it more difficult to detect.
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-22739Same product: Vmware Spring Cloud Config
CVE-2026-40982Same product: Vmware Spring Cloud Config
CVE-2021-21972Same vendor: Vmwareboth on KEV
CVE-2021-22005Same vendor: Vmwareboth on KEV
CVE-2024-27199Shared CWE-22, CWE-23both on KEV
CVE-2023-20890Same vendor: Vmware
CVE-2026-41843Same vendor: Vmware
CVE-2022-31706Same vendor: Vmware
CVE-2026-40987Same vendor: Vmware
CVE-2023-31131Same vendor: Vmware

Affected Assets

vmware
spring cloud config
2.1.0 — 2.1.9 · 2.2.0 — 2.2.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

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-22

Validates pathnames and filenames to prevent traversal outside intended directories.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and path sanitization that prevent relative traversal.

PR.AA-05 none match
blocks

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

removes
removes
removes
removes
removes

References