GHSA-c244-p6m5-vqj6 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-289 vulnerability in org.apache.shiro:shiro-spring. A fix is available for org.apache.shiro:shiro-spring — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Apache Shiro has an Authentication Bypass
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 GHSA-c244-p6m5-vqj6.
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
GHSA-c244-p6m5-vqj6 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 377,166 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
org.apache.shiro:shiro-springReal-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
Impact
Authentication Bypass: A vulnerability exists in Apache Shiro that allows authentication bypass for static files when served from a case-insensitive filesystem (such as the default configuration on macOS or Windows).
The issue arises when Shiro's URL filters are configured with lower-case rules (a common default), but the underlying operating system treats mixed-case filenames as identical. An attacker can access protected static resources by varying the capitalization of the filename in the request (e.g., requesting /SECRET.TXT to bypass a rule for /secret.txt).
This issue specifically affects static file handling and does not impact dynamic resource paths that are case-sensitive.
Patches
Users should upgrade to Apache Shiro 2.1.0 or later.
Important Configuration Note: Version 2.1.0 introduces a new configuration parameter to handle case-insensitivity, which must be enabled manually to resolve the issue:
- shiro.ini:
filterChainResolver.caseInsensitive = true - Spring Boot (application.properties):
shiro.caseInsensitive=true
Note: Apache Shiro 3.0.0 (upcoming) will enable this setting by default.
Workarounds
- Ensure that the filesystem hosting the application is case-sensitive (e.g., Linux/Unix).
- Manually configure all Shiro filter chains to handle all possible case variations of protected filenames (not recommended due to complexity).
Resources
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.shiro:shiro-spring | all versions | 2.1.0org.apache.shiro:shiro-spring:2.1.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.shiro:shiro-spring, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.shiro:shiro-spring to 2.1.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-c244-p6m5-vqj6 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 GHSA-c244-p6m5-vqj6 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-c244-p6m5-vqj6. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-c244-p6m5-vqj6 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-c244-p6m5-vqj6 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.