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Fencer Vulns
high 8.8

CVE-2020-13936 in the critical feed json

Velocity Sandbox Bypass

published 2021-03-10 5 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also GHSA-59j4-wjwp-mw9m , EUVD-2022-0461

cvss
8.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
22.7%
EPSS 22.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 97%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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.

Patch / fix

  • maven org.apache.velocity:velocity-engine-parent 2.3
  • apache velocity_engine 2.3
  • velocity Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.7-6

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2020-13936

  • velocity Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 1.7-5+deb9u1build0.20.04.1
  • velocity Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 1.7-4ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • velocity Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS 1.7-5ubuntu0.18.04.1~esm1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2020-13936

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • eap7-netty jboss enterprise application platform 7.4 4.1.63-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el8eap
  • eap7-wildfly jboss enterprise application platform 7.4 7.4.1-2.GA_redhat_00003.1.el8eap
  • eap7-undertow jboss enterprise application platform 7.4 2.2.9-2.SP1_redhat_00001.1.el8eap
  • eap7-velocity jboss enterprise application platform 7.4, jboss enterprise application platform 7.3 2.3.0-1.redhat_00001.1.el8eap
  • eap7-netty-all jboss enterprise application platform 7.4 4.1.63-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el8eap
  • eap7-jakarta-el jboss enterprise application platform 7.4 3.0.3-2.redhat_00006.1.el8eap
  • eap7-wildfly-elytron jboss enterprise application platform 7.4 1.15.5-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el8eap
  • eap7-wildfly-modules jboss enterprise application platform 7.4 7.4.1-2.GA_redhat_00003.1.el8eap

red hat advisories RHSA-2025:1747RHSA-2025:1746RHSA-2021:3658RHSA-2021:3656RHSA-2021:2047RHSA-2021:2046

  • maven-doxia SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4, SLES for SAP 15 SP3 +10 more 2.0.0-150200.4.18.11
  • maven-parent openSUSE Leap 15.6 43-150200.3.8.2
  • maven-invoker SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4, SLES for SAP 15 SP3 +11 more 3.3.0-150200.3.7.5
  • maven-surefire SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4, SLES for SAP 15 SP3 +11 more 3.5.2-150200.3.9.20.12
  • plexus-velocity SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4, SLES for SAP 15 SP3 +10 more 2.1.0-150200.3.10.3
  • maven-plugin-tools SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4, SLES for SAP 15 SP3 +11 more 3.15.1-150200.3.15.12
  • maven-plugin-plugin openSUSE Leap 15.6 3.15.1-150200.3.15.2
  • maven-reporting-api SLES for SAP 15 SP5, SLES for SAP 15 SP4, SLES for SAP 15 SP3 +10 more 4.0.0-150200.3.10.12

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:0719-1SUSE-SU-2022:3560-1SUSE-SU-2022:3397-1SUSE-SU-2021:0800-1

  • velocity openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.7-9.3
  • velocity openSUSE Leap 15.2 1.7-lp152.5.3.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:11495-1openSUSE-SU-2021:0447-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2020-13936 updated cvss 8.8

velocity: arbitrary code execution when attacker is able to modify templates

  • Red Hat BPM Suite 6 velocity
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Decision Manager 7 velocity
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 velocity, velocity-demo, velocity-manual, velocity-javadoc
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 velocity, velocity-demo, velocity-manual, velocity-javadoc
    affected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Integration Camel Quarkus 1 velocity
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6 velocity Red Hat JBoss BRMS 6 velocity Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization 6 velocity Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 6 velocity
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform Expansion Pack velocity
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6 velocity Red Hat JBoss Fuse Service Works 6 velocity Red Hat JBoss Operations Network 3 velocity
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
show 17 more
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 openshift3/ose-logging-elasticsearch5 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift4/ose-metering-hive, openshift4/ose-logging-elasticsearch5, openshift4/ose-logging-elasticsearch6
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Process Automation 7 velocity
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat EAP-XP 2.0.0 via EAP 7.3.x base
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:2755
  • Red Hat EAP-XP via EAP 7.3.x base
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:2210
  • Red Hat Fuse 7.9
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:3140
  • Red Hat Integration
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:4918
  • Red Hat Integration Camel Quarkus 2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:4767
  • Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.3 for BaseOS-8 eap7-yasson 1.0.9-1.redhat_00001.1.el8eap, eap7-velocity 2.3.0-1.redhat_00001.1.el8eap, eap7-xalan-j2 2.7.1-36.redhat_00013.1.el8eap, eap7-wildfly 7.3.7-1.GA_redhat_00002.1.el8eap, eap7-netty 4.1.60-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el8eap, eap7-bouncycastle 1.68.0-2.redhat_00005.1.el8eap, +92 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:2048
  • Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.3 for RHEL 6 Server eap7-yasson 1.0.9-1.redhat_00001.1.el6eap, eap7-velocity 2.3.0-1.redhat_00001.1.el6eap, eap7-xalan-j2 2.7.1-36.redhat_00013.1.el6eap, eap7-wildfly 7.3.7-1.GA_redhat_00002.1.el6eap, eap7-netty 4.1.60-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el6eap, eap7-bouncycastle 1.68.0-2.redhat_00005.1.el6eap, +92 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:2046
  • Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.3 for RHEL 7 Server eap7-yasson 1.0.9-1.redhat_00001.1.el7eap, eap7-velocity 2.3.0-1.redhat_00001.1.el7eap, eap7-xalan-j2 2.7.1-36.redhat_00013.1.el7eap, eap7-wildfly 7.3.7-1.GA_redhat_00002.1.el7eap, eap7-netty 4.1.60-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el7eap, eap7-bouncycastle 1.68.0-2.redhat_00005.1.el7eap, +94 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:2047
  • Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.4 for RHEL 7 Server eap7-velocity 2.3.0-1.redhat_00001.1.el7eap, eap7-velocity-engine-core 2.3.0-1.redhat_00001.1.el7eap
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:3656
  • Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.4 for RHEL 8 eap7-velocity 2.3.0-1.redhat_00001.1.el8eap, eap7-velocity-engine-core 2.3.0-1.redhat_00001.1.el8eap
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:3658
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform velocity-engine-core 2.3.0.redhat-00001
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:3660
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2021:2051
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.1 EUS for RHEL 7 Server eap7-velocity 1.7.0-3.redhat_00006.1.ep7.el7, eap7-resteasy 3.0.27-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.ep7.el7, eap7-resteasy-cdi 3.0.27-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.ep7.el7, eap7-resteasy-jaxrs 3.0.27-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.ep7.el7, eap7-resteasy-jsapi 3.0.27-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.ep7.el7, eap7-resteasy-client 3.0.27-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.ep7.el7, +12 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:1746
  • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.3 EUS for RHEL 7 Server eap7-jettison 1.5.2-2.redhat_00002.1.el7eap, eap7-wildfly 7.3.12-3.GA_redhat_00002.1.el7eap, eap7-netty 4.1.63-4.Final_redhat_00002.1.el7eap, eap7-jackson-core 2.10.4-2.redhat_00004.1.el7eap, eap7-snakeyaml 1.33.0-1.SP1_redhat_00001.1.el7eap, eap7-resteasy 3.11.6-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el7eap, +35 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:1747
  • Red Hat A-MQ Clients 2 velocity Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 velocity Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 velocity, velocity-demo, velocity-manual, velocity-javadoc Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.4 for RHEL 7 Server eap7-yasson 1.0.9-1.redhat_00001.1.el7eap, eap7-xalan-j2 2.7.1-36.redhat_00013.1.el7eap, eap7-jakarta-el 3.0.3-2.redhat_00006.1.el7eap, eap7-wildfly 7.4.1-2.GA_redhat_00003.1.el7eap, eap7-jberet 1.3.9-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el7eap, eap7-netty 4.1.63-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el7eap, +51 more Red Hat JBoss EAP 7.4 for RHEL 8 eap7-yasson 1.0.9-1.redhat_00001.1.el8eap, eap7-xalan-j2 2.7.1-36.redhat_00013.1.el8eap, eap7-jakarta-el 3.0.3-2.redhat_00006.1.el8eap, eap7-wildfly 7.4.1-2.GA_redhat_00003.1.el8eap, eap7-jberet 1.3.9-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el8eap, eap7-netty 4.1.63-1.Final_redhat_00001.1.el8eap, +49 more Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform pom.xml, c3 0.6.0, c3 0.7.1, d3 5.9.2, ms 2.0.0, ms 2.1.2, +1441 more
    +1 more products
    Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.1 EUS for RHEL 7 Server eap7-jettison 1.3.8-2.redhat_00002.1.ep7.el7, eap7-wildfly 7.1.9-2.GA_redhat_00002.1.ep7.el7, eap7-apache-cxf 3.1.16-4.redhat_00003.1.ep7.el7, eap7-netty 4.1.63-1.Final_redhat_00002.1.ep7.el7, eap7-apache-cxf-rt 3.1.16-4.redhat_00003.1.ep7.el7, eap7-snakeyaml 1.33.0-1.SP1_redhat_00001.1.ep7.el7, +5 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

22.71% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 97% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 9.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C
GitHub 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
maven org.apache.velocity:velocity-engine-parent
<2.3
2.3
maven org.apache.velocity:velocity
<=1.7
 no fix listed

Affected products

  • Apache Software Foundation Apache Velocity Engine

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-20 Improper Input Validation

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns 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.