dotCMS before 5.2.4 is vulnerable to directory traversal, leading to incorrect access control.

published 2020-02-05 6 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2020-27901

cvss: 9.8; version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 94.8%; EPSS 94.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 99.8%
public exploits: 0; none known

dotCMS before 5.2.4 is vulnerable to directory traversal, leading to incorrect access control. It allows an attacker to read or execute files under $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps/ROOT/assets (which should be a protected directory). Additionally, attackers can upload temporary files (e.g., .jsp files) into /webapps/ROOT/assets/tmp_upload, which can lead to remote command execution (with the permissions of the user running the dotCMS application).

Patch / fix

fixed in 1

dotcms dotcms 5.2.4

Exploit prediction

94.80% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.8% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

dotcms.com https://dotcms.com/security/SI-54 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
github.com https://github.com/dotCMS/core/issues/17796 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
NVD	3.1	9.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	2.0	7.5	AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness

CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory
CWE-434 Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type

References

dotcms.com /security/SI-54
exploit, mitigation, vendor-advisory
github.com /dotCMS/core/issues/17796
exploit, third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2020-6754
NVD CVE-2020-6754

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