CVE-2020-5229 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.1) Broken Cryptographic Algorithm vulnerability in org.opencastproject:opencast-common-jpa-impl. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2020-5229 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Password Hashing: Do not use MD5
Real-World Exposure
org.opencastproject:opencast-common-jpa-impl☕org.opencastproject:opencast-common-jpa-implReal-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
Opencast before 8.1 stores passwords using the rather outdated and cryptographically insecure MD5 hash algorithm. Furthermore, the hashes are salted using the username instead of a random salt, causing hashes for users with the same username and password to collide which is problematic especially for popular users like the default admin user. This essentially means that for an attacker, it might be feasible to reconstruct a user's password given access to these hashes. Note that attackers needing access to the hashes means that they must gain access to the database in which these are stored first to be able to start cracking the passwords. The problem is addressed in Opencast 8.1 which now uses the modern and much stronger bcrypt password hashing algorithm for storing passwords. Note, that old hashes remain MD5 until the password is updated. For a list of users whose password hashes are stored using MD5, take a look at the /user-utils/users/md5.json REST endpoint.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.opencastproject:opencast-common-jpa-impl | all versions | 7.6 |
| ☕Maven | org.opencastproject:opencast-common-jpa-impl | ≥ 8.0&&< 8.1 | 8.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.opencastproject:opencast-common-jpa-impl. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update org.opencastproject:opencast-common-jpa-impl to 7.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-5229 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2020-5229 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2020-5229. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-5229 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2020-5229 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.