How severe is CVE-2020-10199?

CVE-2020-10199 has a CVSS score of 8.8/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-10199?

CVE-2020-10199 affects the following packages: org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2020-10199?

Update org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect to 3.21.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-10199 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2020-10199 in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2020-10199 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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.

Is CVE-2020-10199 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 15 known exploit references for CVE-2020-10199, including 2 documented proof-of-concept exploits on Exploit-DB and 8 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-10199?

CVE-2020-10199 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 99.1%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2020-10199 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2020-10199 (Sonatype Nexus Repository Remote Code Execution Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2021-11-03. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-05-03. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-10199?

CVE-2020-10199 is classified as Expression Language Injection (CWE-917). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2020-10199?

A Nuclei detection template exists for CVE-2020-10199, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. A Metasploit module references CVE-2020-10199, which lowers the barrier to weaponization. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was CVE-2020-10199 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-10199 was published on April 14, 2020 and was last updated on October 22, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

☕

☕ Maven

CISA KEV · ACTIVELY EXPLOITED

HIGH severity

CVE-2020-10199 — nexus-extdirect

HIGH

CVE-2020-10199 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Expression Language Injection vulnerability in org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. A fix is available for org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Nexus Repository Manager 3 - Remote Code Execution

Published

Apr 14, 2020

Updated

Oct 22, 2025

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

15 known

Exploitation data as of Oct 22, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2021-11-03. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-05-03.
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-2020-10199.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

99.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs100th percentile — riskier than 100% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2020-10199 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 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

☕org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect

Real-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

Sonatype Nexus Repository before 3.21.2 allows JavaEL Injection (issue 1 of 2).

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect`	all versions	3.21.2`org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect:3.21.2`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

nexussonatype

< 3.21.2

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-49385webappsjava✓ Verified

Sonatype Nexus 3.21.1 - Remote Code Execution (Authenticated)

by 1F98D · Jan 6, 2021

Exploit-DB Source

EDB-48343remotelinux✓ Verified

Nexus Repository Manager - Java EL Injection RCE (Metasploit)

by Metasploit · Apr 17, 2020

Exploit-DB Source

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.sonatype.nexus:nexus-extdirect to 3.21.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-10199 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-2020-10199

A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:

nuclei -id cve-2020-10199 -u https://target

Template: Sonatype Nexus Repository Manager 3 - Remote Code Execution
Severity: high
Impact: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.
Remediation: Apply the latest security patches or upgrade to a non-vulnerable version of Sonatype Nexus Repository Manager 3.

Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (rootxharsh, iamnoooob, pdresearch), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sonatype Nexus Repository before 3.21.2 allows JavaEL Injection (issue 1 of 2).

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2020-10199 in your dependencies?

Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

8.8/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:H

CWE Classification

CWE-917Expression Language Injection

Weaponization

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

nexus-public

3.5/10

Maintained0/10

Code-Review10/10

Branch-Protection0/10

Assessed Oct 19, 2026

Timeline

Disclosed

Apr 14, 2020

First exploit

Jan 6, 2021

KEV added

Nov 3, 2021

Last updated

Oct 22, 2025

Identifiers

CVE-2020-10199

References

Advisorynvd.nist.gov Advisorysecuritylab.github.com Webcwe.mitre.org Websupport.sonatype.com Webcisa.gov Webpacketstormsecurity.com Webpacketstormsecurity.com Packagegithub.com

Related vulnerabilities

This CVE is high severity; 5 of 8 other CVEs with CWE-917 are rated as high or higher (top: critical).

CVE-2026-65591CVE-2026-57281CVE-2026-40985CVE-2026-41717CVE-2026-41729CVE-2026-41719CVE-2026-2587GHSA-wwhq-w58m-w29cBrowse all CWE-917

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDCISA KEVFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedOct 22, 2025

CVE-2020-10199 — nexus-extdirect

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

EPSS Exploitation Probability

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

Description

Affected Packages

Affected Products

Detection & mitigation playbook

Detect

Fix

Workarounds

How to detect CVE-2020-10199

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CVE-2020-10199 in your dependencies?