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Fencer Intel
medium 6.5

CVE-2020-5408 json

Dictionary attack with Spring Security queryable text encryptor

published 6y ago modified 4mo ago also GHSA-2ppp-9496-p23q , EUVD-2020-0449

cvss
6.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.6%
EPSS 1.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 75%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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.

Patch / fix

  • maven org.springframework.security:spring-security-core 4.2.16, 5.0.16, 5.1.10, 5.2.4, 5.3.2
  • Spring by VMware Spring Security 4.2.16, 5.0.16, 5.1.10, 5.2.4, 5.3.2

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Exploit prediction

1.59% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 75% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 2.0 4.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N
GitHub 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
maven org.springframework.security:spring-security-core
>=5.3.0, <5.3.2
>=5.2.0, <5.2.4
>=5.1.0, <5.1.10
>=5.0.0, <5.0.16
<4.2.16
5.3.2
5.2.4
5.1.10
5.0.16
4.2.16

Affected products

  • Spring by VMware Spring Security

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-329 Generation of Predictable IV with CBC Mode
  • CWE-330 Use of Insufficiently Random Values
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.