CVE-2020-6165 — silverstripe/recipe-cms
MEDIUMCVE-2020-6165 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in silverstripe/recipe-cms. A fix is available for silverstripe/recipe-cms — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Silverstripe has Incorrect Default Permissions
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-6165 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
silverstripe/recipe-cms🐘silverstripe/graphqlReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
SilverStripe 4.5.0 allows attackers to read certain records that should not have been placed into a result set. This affects silverstripe/recipe-cms. The automatic permission-checking mechanism in the silverstripe/graphql module does not provide complete protection against lists that are limited (e.g., through pagination), resulting in records that should have failed a permission check being added to the final result set. GraphQL endpoints are configured by default (e.g., for assets), but the admin/graphql endpoint is access protected by default. This limits the vulnerability to all authenticated users, including those with limited permissions (e.g., where viewing records exposed through admin/graphql requires administrator permissions). However, if custom GraphQL endpoints have been configured for a specific implementation (usually under /graphql), this vulnerability could also be exploited through unauthenticated requests. This vulnerability only applies to reading records; it does not allow unauthorised changing of records.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | silverstripe/recipe-cms | ≥ 4.5.0&&< 4.5.3 | 4.5.3composer require silverstripe/recipe-cms:^4.5.3 |
| 🐘Packagist | silverstripe/graphql | ≥ 3.2.0&&< 3.2.4 | 3.2.4composer require silverstripe/graphql:^3.2.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for silverstripe/recipe-cms, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update silverstripe/recipe-cms to 4.5.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-6165 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2020-6165 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2020-6165. 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-2020-6165 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2020-6165 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.