CVE-2018-1273 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Code Injection vulnerability in org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-25) and has been used in ransomware campaigns — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. A fix is available for org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Spring Data Commons remote code injection vulnerability
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-03-25 — including use in ransomware campaigns. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-04-15.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2018-1273.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2018-1273 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 394,415 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons☕org.springframework.data:spring-data-commonsReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Spring Data Commons, versions prior to 1.13 to 1.13.10, 2.0 to 2.0.5, and older unsupported versions, contain a property binder vulnerability caused by improper neutralization of special elements. An unauthenticated remote malicious user (or attacker) can supply specially crafted request parameters against Spring Data REST backed HTTP resources or using Spring Data's projection-based request payload binding hat can lead to a remote code execution attack.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons | ≥ 1.13.0&&< 1.13.11 | 1.13.11org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons:1.13.11 |
| ☕Maven | org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.0.6 | 2.0.6org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons:2.0.6 |
Affected Products
igniteapachespring data commonsbroadcomfinancial services crime and compliance management studiooraclespring data restpivotal_softwarespring data restvmwareResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Spring Data Commons, versions prior to 1.13 to 1.13.10, 2.0 to 2.0.5, an…
Spring Data Commons, versions prior to 1.13 to 1.13.10, 2.0 to 2.0.5, an…
Spring Data Commons, versions prior to 1.13 to 1.13.10, 2.0 to 2.0.5, an…
Spring Data Commons, versions prior to 1.13 to 1.13.10, 2.0 to 2.0.5, an…
Spring Data Commons, versions prior to 1.13 to 1.13.10, 2.0 to 2.0.5, an…
Spring Data Commons, versions prior to 1.13 to 1.13.10, 2.0 to 2.0.5, an…
Spring Data Commons, versions prior to 1.13 to 1.13.10, 2.0 to 2.0.5, an…
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.springframework.data:spring-data-commons to 1.13.11 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2018-1273 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
How to detect CVE-2018-1273
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2018-1273 -u https://target- Template
- Spring Data Commons - Remote Code Execution
- Severity
- critical
- Impact
- Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to remote code execution, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.
- Remediation
- Apply the latest security patches provided by the vendor to fix the deserialization vulnerability.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (dwisiswant0), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2018-1273 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.