Spring Security Vulnerable to Unauthorized User Impersonation when Using X.509 Client CertificatesGHSA-2jrg-rf5x-568g
MEDIUMFix: spring-projects/spring-security@88118afGHSA-2jrg-rf5x-568g is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.8) CWE-297 vulnerability in org.springframework.security:spring-security-web. A fix is available for org.springframework.security:spring-security-web — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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 GHSA-2jrg-rf5x-568g.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-2jrg-rf5x-568g by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 388,997 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
org.springframework.security:spring-security-webReal-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
Vulnerability in Spring Spring Security. SubjectX500PrincipalExtractor does not correctly handle certain malformed X.509 certificate CN values, which can lead to reading the wrong value for the username. In a carefully crafted certificate, this can lead to an attacker impersonating another user. This issue affects Spring Security: from 7.0.0 through 7.0.4.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.springframework.security:spring-security-web | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.0.5 | 7.0.5org.springframework.security:spring-security-web:7.0.5 |
Affected Products
spring securityvmwareDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.springframework.security:spring-security-web, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.springframework.security:spring-security-web to 7.0.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-2jrg-rf5x-568g 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-2jrg-rf5x-568g in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.