Back to Database
Status published
High
CVE-2020-13936
Velocity Sandbox Bypass
Vulnerability Description
An attacker that is able to modify Velocity templates may execute arbitrary Java code or run arbitrary system commands with the same privileges as the account running the Servlet container. This applies to applications that allow untrusted users to upload/modify velocity templates running Apache Velocity Engine versions up to 2.2.
Impact Analysis
Refer to official advisory for detailed impact metrics.
Remediation
Ensure systems are updated to the latest vendor-supplied patch levels.
THREAT MONITOR
Am I Vulnerable?
Launch our assessment wizard to check if your infrastructure is exposed to • CVE-2020-13936
Credits & Attribution
The following person or organization is credited with identifying this vulnerability, as recorded in the NVD database:
- This issue was discovered by Alvaro Munoz pwntester@github.com of Github Security Labs and was originally reported as GHSL-2020-048.
References
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r01043f584cbd47959fabe18fff64de940f81a65024bb8dddbda31d9a%40%3Cuser.velocity.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r01043f584cbd47959fabe18fff64de940f81a65024bb8dddbda31d9a%40%3Cuser.velocity.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb042f3b0090e419cc9f5a3d32cf0baff283ccd6fcb1caea61915d6b6%40%3Ccommits.velocity.apache.org%3E
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/03/10/1
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r3ea4c4c908505b20a4c268330dfe7188b90c84dcf777728d02068ae6%40%3Cannounce.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd2a89e17e8a9b451ce655f1a34117752ea1d18a22ce580d8baa824fd%40%3Ccommits.druid.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/03/msg00019.html
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/re641197d204765130618086238c73dd2ce5a3f94b33785b587d72726%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rbee7270556f4172322936b5ecc9fabf0c09f00d4fa56c9de1963c340%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/reab5978b54a9f4c078402161e30a89c42807b198814acadbe6c862c7%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rd7e865c87f9043c21d9c1fd9d4df866061d9a08cfc322771160d8058%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/re8e7482fe54d289fc0229e61cc64947b63b12c3c312e9f25bf6f3b8c%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r0bc98e9cd080b4a13b905c571b9bed87e1a0878d44dbf21487c6cca4%40%3Cdev.santuario.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r39de20c7e9c808b1f96790875d33e58c9c0aabb44fd9227e7b3dc5da%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r17cb932fab14801b14e5b97a7f05192f4f366ef260c10d4a8dba8ac9%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r4cd59453b65d4ac290fcb3b71fdf32b4f1f8989025e89558deb5a245%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r7f209b837217d2a0fe5977fb692e7f15d37fa5de8214bcdc4c21d9a7%40%3Ccommits.turbine.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r293284c6806c73f51098001ea86a14271c39f72cd76af9e946d9d9ad%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf7d369de88dc88a1347006a3323b3746d849234db40a8edfd5ebc436%40%3Cdev.ws.apache.org%3E
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202107-52
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r9dc2505651788ac668299774d9e7af4dc616be2f56fdc684d1170882%40%3Cusers.activemq.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r52a5129df402352adc34d052bab9234c8ef63596306506a89fdc7328%40%3Cusers.activemq.apache.org%3E
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html
More from Apache Software Foundation
View All →CVE-2025-69233
Apache CloudStack: Domain/account resources limits not honored
Medium
6.5
CVE-2025-69219
Apache Airflow Providers Http: Unsafe Pickle Deserialization in apache-airflow-providers-http leading to RCE via HttpOperator
Unknown
0
CVE-2025-68675
Apache Airflow: proxy credentials for various providers might leak in task logs
Unknown
0
CVE-2025-68637
Apache Uniffle: Insecure SSL Configuration in Uniffle HTTP Client
Unknown
0
CVE-2025-68493
Apache Struts, Apache Struts: XXE vulnerability in outdated XWork component
Unknown
0
Affected Vendor
Apache Software Foundation
View all reports →Affected Software
Apache Velocity Engine
Vulnerable Versions:
Apache Velocity Engine
Timeline
Official Publish:
March 10th, 2021
Last Modified:
February 13th, 2025
Added to House:
July 21st, 2026
CVSS Vectors
V3:
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weaknesses (CWE)
No CWE data available
MITRE ATT&CK TTPs
No associated TTPs found for this vulnerability.