GHSA-jqg8-m35q-jh7j is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-321 vulnerability in org.apache.syncope:syncope-core. A fix is available for org.apache.syncope:syncope-core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Apache Syncope's AES encryption stores hard-coded passwords in internal database
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-jqg8-m35q-jh7j.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-jqg8-m35q-jh7j by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 379,842 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
org.apache.syncope:syncope-core☕org.apache.syncope:syncope-coreReal-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
Apache Syncope can be configured to store the user password values in the internal database with AES encryption, though this is not the default option.
When AES is configured, the default key value, hard-coded in the source code, is always used. This allows a malicious attacker, once obtained access to the internal database content, to reconstruct the original cleartext password values. This is not affecting encrypted plain attributes, whose values are also stored using AES encryption.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.0.15 / 4.0.3, which fix this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.syncope:syncope-core | ≥ 4.0.0&&< 4.0.3 | 4.0.3org.apache.syncope:syncope-core:4.0.3 |
| ☕Maven | org.apache.syncope:syncope-core | all versions | 3.0.15org.apache.syncope:syncope-core:3.0.15 |
Affected Products
syncopeapacheDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.syncope:syncope-core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.syncope:syncope-core to 4.0.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-jqg8-m35q-jh7j 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-jqg8-m35q-jh7j in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.