CVE-2020-5408Dictionary attack with Spring Security queryable text encryptor
- 6.5MediumCVSS base score
- 1.6%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 24% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
Spring Security versions 5.3.x prior to 5.3.2, 5.2.x prior to 5.2.4, 5.1.x prior to 5.1.10, 5.0.x prior to 5.0.16 and 4.2.x prior to 4.2.16 use a fixed null initialization vector with CBC Mode in the implementation of the queryable text encryptor. A malicious user with access to the data that has been encrypted using such an encryptor may be able to derive the unencrypted values using a dictionary attack.
Timeline
ID reserved
By pivotal
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Published
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium6.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 1.6% · top 24% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.5.
Affected products
Spring by VMware · Spring Security
- affected 4.2 – < 4.2.16
- affected 5.0 – < 5.0.16
- affected 5.1 – < 5.1.10
- affected 5.2 – < 5.2.4
- affected 5.3 – < 5.3.2
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- Mavenorg.springframework.security:spring-security-coreGHSA-2ppp-9496-p23q (opens in a new tab)
References
References4
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2020.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://tanzu.vmware.com/security/cve-2020-5408 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2021.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2020-0449 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-2ppp-9496-p23q (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2020-5408)Record last updated .