Jackson Configuration Allows Code Execution with Unknown "Serialization Gadgets"

published 2020-06-11 6 y ago modified 2026-09-01 2 mo ago also GHSA-4ph4-q9r5-6wm6 , EUVD-2022-2414

cvss: 8.1; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.7%; EPSS 1.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 77%
public exploits: 0; none known

When configured to enable default typing, Jackson contained a deserialization vulnerability that could lead to arbitrary code execution. Jackson fixed this vulnerability by blacklisting known "deserialization gadgets". Spring Batch configures Jackson with global default typing enabled which means that through the previous exploit, arbitrary code could be executed if all of the following is true: * Spring Batch's Jackson support is being leveraged to serialize a job's ExecutionContext. * A malicious user gains write access to the data store used by the JobRepository (where the data to be deserialized is stored). In order to protect against this type of attack, Jackson prevents a set of untrusted gadget classes from being deserialized. Spring Batch should be proactive against blocking unknown "deserialization gadgets" when enabling default typing.

Patch / fix

fixed in 2

maven org.springframework.batch:spring-batch-core 4.2.3
Spring by VMware Spring Batch 4.2.3

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-2020-5411 updated 2026-09-01 cvss 8.1

spring-batch-core: Jackson configuration allows code execution with unknown serialization gadgets

Red Hat Fuse 7 spring-batch-core spring-batch-core
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

1.71% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 77% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	8.1	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	2.0	6.8	AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
GitHub	3.1	8.1	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
maven	org.springframework.batch:spring-batch-core	>=4.0.0, <4.2.3	4.2.3

Affected products

Spring by VMware Spring Batch

Classification

Weakness

CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data

References

tanzu.vmware.com /security/cve-2020-5411
web, vendor-advisory
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5411
advisory
github.com /spring-projects/spring-batch
package

Sources

CVE List CVE-2020-5411
GitHub Advisory GHSA-4ph4-q9r5-6wm6
NVD CVE-2020-5411

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.

Summary