CVE-2020-13956 — httpclient
MEDIUMCVE-2020-13956 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient. A fix is available for org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Cross-site scripting in Apache HttpClient
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2020-13956.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient☕org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclientReal-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
Apache HttpClient versions prior to version 4.5.13 and 5.0.3 can misinterpret malformed authority component in request URIs passed to the library as java.net.URI object and pick the wrong target host for request execution.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient | all versions | 4.5.13org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.5.13 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient | ≥ 5.0.0&&< 5.0.3 | 5.0.3org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:5.0.3 |
Affected Products
httpclientapacheactive iq unified managernetappsnapcenternetappcommerce guided searchoraclecommunications cloud native core service communication proxyoracledata integratororacleDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient to 4.5.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-13956 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
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.
In OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) the affected components are behind OpenShift OAuth authentication. This restricts access to the vulnerable httpclient library to authenticated users only. Additionally the vulnerable httpclient library is not used directly in OCP components, therefore the impact by this…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat AMQ 7.9.0 | httpclient | RHSA-2021:3700 |
| Red Hat build of Quarkus 1.7.6 | httpclient | RHSA-2021:0084 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | maven:3.6-8060020211119162118.5dbfe8be | RHSA-2022:1860 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | maven:3.5-8060020211117110044.c0229ad2 | RHSA-2022:1861 |
| Red Hat Fuse 7.12 | see advisory | RHSA-2023:3954 |
| Red Hat Fuse 7.9 | httpclient | RHSA-2021:3140 |
| Red Hat Integration - Camel K - Tech-Preview 3 | httpclient | RHSA-2021:0811 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7 | httpclient | RHSA-2021:0250 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-13956 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.