WaratekVRT Sign in

CVE-2020-9480 Apache Spark

Affected softwareApache Spark
Severity9.8 Critical CVSS 3.1 2 scores
Fixed in2.4.6
WeaknessMissing authentication (CWE-306)
Published23 Jun 2020
Updated17 Jun 2026

Description

In Apache Spark 2.4.5 and earlier, a standalone resource manager's master may be configured to require authentication (spark.authenticate) via a shared secret. When enabled, however, a specially-crafted RPC to the master can succeed in starting an application's resources on the Spark cluster, even without the shared key. This can be leveraged to execute shell commands on the host machine. This does not affect Spark clusters using other resource managers (YARN, Mesos, etc).

CWE-287 · Improper authentication

Exploitation status

Exploited

Real-world exploitation reported by VulnCheck KEV. CISA has not confirmed it.

  • CISA KEV not listed
  • VulnCheck KEV listed Exploitation reported in the wild. 2 citations · earliest 2024-05-10.
  • CISA Vulnrichment no assessment published
  • Indexed PoC 1 indexed Published artifacts you can open, in Nuclei.
  • EPSS 30% chance in 30 days A model's forecast, not a report of exploitation. Higher than 98% of all scored CVEs.

VulnCheck KEV

Exploitation evidence from VulnCheck Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (VulnCheck KEV), used under VulnCheck's community terms. View CVE-2020-9480 in VulnCheck (free account).

EvidenceSourceDetailDate
Reported exploitation 1665891.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net /hubfs/1665891/Threat%20reports/AquaSecurity_Kinsing_Demystified_Technical_Guide.pdf 2024-05-10
Reported exploitation app.crowdsec.net /cti/cve-explorer/CVE-2020-9480 2025-10-24
IndexArtifactStarsFirst seen
Nuclei Apache Spark - Authentication Bypass

Waratek protection

Mitigation candidate

A kind of vulnerability Waratek's rules address, with exploit code published or exploitation reported. No rule exists and none is planned yet. The decision below says what we found to build a rule from.

  • Protection none
  • Action unverified
  • Review automated Inferred
  • Record active
Decided by The affected package being open source on Maven, so the fix can be read
Finding This CVE affects an open-source Java library published on Maven Central (Maven packages: org.apache.spark:spark-parent_2.11), so it is squarely in ARMR's territory and the source needed to understand the defect is public. That makes it a candidate for an ARMR patch rule. No rule exists and none is scheduled: the diff between the affected and fixed versions has not been read, and a closer look may find no hook point ARMR can act on.

CVSS

9.8 CRITICAL v3.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 2 metrics

We show the highest score from the newest CVSS version. Scores from different versions can't be compared, and the first score listed is sometimes a 0.0 placeholder.

VersionScoreBandVectorAssignerType
CVSS 3.1 9.8 CRITICAL CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H NVD Primary published
CVSS 2.0 9.3 none AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C NVD Primary

Affected software and releases

Oracle advisories

AdvisoryTypeQuarterProducts Oracle names in its risk matrix
Oracle Critical Patch Update April 2021 ↗ CPU 2021-Q2 Oracle Fusion Middleware / Analytics Server (Apache Spark) (5.5.0.0.0)

Oracle components and versions

FamilyComponentVersions, as Oracle lists themRead as
Oracle Fusion Middleware Analytics Server (Apache Spark) 5.5.0.0.0 5.5.0.0.0

Maven packages

Affected and fixed versions, from OSV.dev
PackageIntroducedFixedLast affected
org.apache.spark:spark-parent_2.11 0 2.4.6 unbounded

Products and versions

3 products, 3 version entries
SourceVendorProductSchemeAffected versions
nvd apache spark generic ≤ 2.4.5
nvd oracle business intelligence generic 5.5.0.0.0
osv org.apache.spark spark-parent_2.11 generic < 2.4.6

References

URLTags
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/pyspark/PYSEC-2020-95.yaml WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r03ad9fe7c07d6039fba9f2152d345274473cb0af3d8a4794a6645f4b@%3Cuser.spark.apache.org%3E WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ra0e62a18ad080c4ce6df5e0202a27eaada75222761efc3f7238b5a3b@%3Ccommits.doris.apache.org%3E WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb3956440747e41940d552d377d50b144b60085e7ff727adb0e575d8d@%3Ccommits.submarine.apache.org%3E WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ree9e87aae81852330290a478692e36ea6db47a52a694545c7d66e3e2@%3Cdev.spark.apache.org%3E WEB
https://spark.apache.org/security.html#CVE-2020-9480 WEB
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html WEB
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r03ad9fe7c07d6039fba9f2152d345274473cb0af3d8a4794a6645f4b%40%3Cuser.spark.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ra0e62a18ad080c4ce6df5e0202a27eaada75222761efc3f7238b5a3b%40%3Ccommits.doris.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb3956440747e41940d552d377d50b144b60085e7ff727adb0e575d8d%40%3Ccommits.submarine.apache.org%3E

Timeline

Published2020-06-23By the CVE Program.
VulnCheck KEV: earliest evidence2024-05-10Date of the oldest evidence of exploitation in VulnCheck KEV's record. VulnCheck does not publish the date it listed the CVE.
VulnCheck KEV: latest evidence2025-10-24Date of the newest report, exploit reference or honeypot sighting in VulnCheck KEV's record.
NVD record modified2026-06-17NVD's own last-modified date for this record.