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MEDIUM severity

GHSA-564r-hj7v-mcr5 — spring-expression

MEDIUMFix: spring-projects/spring-framework@430fc25

GHSA-564r-hj7v-mcr5 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in org.springframework:spring-expression. A fix is available for org.springframework:spring-expression — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Spring Framework vulnerable to denial of service via specially crafted SpEL expression

Also known asCVE-2023-20861
Published
Mar 23, 2023
Updated
Feb 25, 2025
Affected
3 pkgs
Patched
3 / 3
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Sep 26, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

  • 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-564r-hj7v-mcr5.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
1.0%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs60th percentile — riskier than 60% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

GHSA-564r-hj7v-mcr5 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 379,145 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

3 pkgs affected
☕org.springframework:spring-expression☕org.springframework:spring-expression☕org.springframework:spring-expression

Real-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

In Spring Framework versions 6.0.0 - 6.0.6, 5.3.0 - 5.3.25, 5.2.0.RELEASE - 5.2.22.RELEASE, and older unsupported versions, it is possible for a user to provide a specially crafted SpEL expression that may cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition.

Affected Packages

3 total 3 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
☕Mavenorg.springframework:spring-expression≥ 6.0.0&&< 6.0.76.0.7org.springframework:spring-expression:6.0.7
☕Mavenorg.springframework:spring-expression≥ 5.3.0&&< 5.3.265.3.26org.springframework:spring-expression:5.3.26
☕Mavenorg.springframework:spring-expressionall versions5.2.23.RELEASEorg.springframework:spring-expression:5.2.23.RELEASE

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency
  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.springframework:spring-expression, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update org.springframework:spring-expression to 6.0.7 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-564r-hj7v-mcr5 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.

  4. How O3 protects you

    O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-564r-hj7v-mcr5 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.

Tailored to GHSA-564r-hj7v-mcr5. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

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.

Red HatModerate
ProductFixed inAdvisory
AMQ Broker 7.10.3see advisoryRHSA-2023:3185
OCP-Tools-4.12-RHEL-8jenkins-0:2.401.1.1686649641-3.el8RHSA-2023:3610
OCP-Tools-4.12-RHEL-8jenkins-0:2.426.3.1706515686-3.el8RHSA-2024:0778
OCP-Tools-4.13-RHEL-8jenkins-0:2.401.1.1686680404-3.el8RHSA-2023:3622
Red Hat Fuse 7.12springframeworkRHSA-2023:3954
Red Hat support for Spring Boot 2.7.13springframeworkRHSA-2023:4612
Red Hat Virtualization Engine 4.4ovirt-dependencies-0:4.5.3-1.el8evRHSA-2023:3771
RHINT Camel-Springboot 3.20.1springframeworkRHSA-2023:2100

Frequently Asked Questions

In Spring Framework versions 6.0.0 - 6.0.6, 5.3.0 - 5.3.25, 5.2.0.RELEASE - 5.2.22.RELEASE, and older unsupported versions, it is possible for a user to provide a specially crafted SpEL expression that may cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is GHSA-564r-hj7v-mcr5 in your dependencies?

O3 Security finds GHSA-564r-hj7v-mcr5 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.