CVE-2020-36939 — cassandra-web
HIGHCVE-2020-36939 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in cassandra-web. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime.
Cassandra Web - Remote File Read
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-2020-36939.
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
cassandra-webReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects RubyGems packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Cassandra Web 0.5.0 contains a directory traversal vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary files by manipulating path traversal parameters. Attackers can exploit the disabled Rack::Protection module to read sensitive system files like /etc/passwd and retrieve Apache Cassandra database credentials.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💎RubyGems | cassandra-web | all versions | No fix |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for cassandra-web, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
The records we use list no patched version of cassandra-web for CVE-2020-36939. Check the maintainer's advisory, and where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range.
Mitigate without a patch
Resolve every user-supplied path to its canonical form and reject anything that escapes the intended directory, and run the component under an account that has no read or write access outside the directory it legitimately serves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-36939 in your dependencies?
Find it across RubyGems, including transitive dependencies.