CVE-2020-11980 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.3) Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.server. A fix is available for org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.server — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Server-Side Request Forgery in Karaf
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-11980 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.serverReal-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
In Karaf, JMX authentication takes place using JAAS and authorization takes place using ACL files. By default, only an "admin" can actually invoke on an MBean. However there is a vulnerability there for someone who is not an admin, but has a "viewer" role. In the 'etc/jmx.acl.cfg', such as role can call get*. It's possible to authenticate as a viewer role + invokes on the MLet getMBeansFromURL method, which goes off to a remote server to fetch the desired MBean, which is then registered in Karaf. At this point the attack fails as "viewer" doesn't have the permission to invoke on the MBean. Still, it could act as a SSRF style attack and also it essentially allows a "viewer" role to pollute the MBean registry, which is a kind of privilege escalation. The vulnerability is low as it's possible to add a ACL to limit access. Users should update to Apache Karaf 4.2.9 or newer.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.server | all versions | 4.2.9org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.server:4.2.9 |
Affected Products
karafapacheDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.server, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.karaf.management:org.apache.karaf.management.server to 4.2.9 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-11980 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Restrict outbound requests from the affected component to an allowlist of hosts, block access to link-local and internal address ranges at the network layer, and require authentication on internal services so a forged request cannot reach them unauthenticated.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
It's possible to add a JMX ACL in etc configuration to limit access.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2020-11980 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Fuse 7.8.0 | Karaf | RHSA-2020:5568 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-11980 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.