GHSA-v35c-49j6-q8hq CVE-2016-9879

Security Constraint Bypass in Spring Security

High Maven

Severity: 7.5 / 10; High · CVSS 3.0
Exploit chance (EPSS): 1.46%; Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 73.48% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited: No; Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness: —; Not classified
Fix: 3.2.10.RELEASE; Upgrade org.springframework.security:spring-security-core to this version or later

Description

Spring Security does not consider URL path parameters when processing security constraints. By adding a URL path parameter with an encoded "/" to a request, an attacker may be able to bypass a security constraint. The root cause of this issue is a lack of clarity regarding the handling of path parameters in the Servlet Specification (see below). Some Servlet containers include path parameters in the value returned for getPathInfo() and some do not. Spring Security uses the value returned by getPathInfo() as part of the process of mapping requests to security constraints. The unexpected presence of path parameters can cause a constraint to be bypassed.

Users of Apache Tomcat (all current versions) are not affected by this vulnerability since Tomcat follows the guidance previously provided by the Servlet Expert group and strips path parameters from the value returned by getContextPath(), getServletPath() and getPathInfo() [1].

Users of other Servlet containers based on Apache Tomcat may or may not be affected depending on whether or not the handling of path parameters has been modified.

Users of IBM WebSphere Application Server 8.5.x are known to be affected.

Users of other containers that implement the Servlet specification may be affected.

[1] https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=25015

Affected Pivotal Products and Versions

Severity is high unless otherwise noted.

Spring Security 3.2.0 - 3.2.9
Spring Security 4.0.x - 4.1.3
Spring Security 4.2.0
Older unsupported versions are also affected

Mitigation

Adopting one of the following mitigations will protect against this vulnerability.

Use a Servlet container known not to include path parameters in the return values for getServletPath() and getPathInfo()
Upgrading to Spring Security 3.2.10, 4.1.4 or 4.2.1 will reject the request with a RequestRejectedException if the presence of an encoded "/" is detected. Note: If you wish to disable this feature it can be disabled by setting the DefaultHttpFirewall.allowUrlEncodedSlash = true. However, disabling this feature will mean applications are vulnerable (in containers that return path parameters in getServletPath() or getPathInfo()).

Credit

The issue was identified by Shumpei Asahara & Yuji Ito from NTT DATA Corporation and responsibly reported to Pivotal.

Affected versions

Maven

Package	Vulnerable	Fixed in
org.springframework.security:spring-security-core	`< 3.2.10.RELEASE`	`3.2.10.RELEASE`
org.springframework.security:spring-security-core	`>= 4.0.0.RELEASE, < 4.1.4.RELEASE`	`4.1.4.RELEASE`
org.springframework.security:spring-security-core	`>= 4.2.0.RELEASE, < 4.2.1.RELEASE`	`4.2.1.RELEASE`

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

org.springframework.security:spring-security-core Maven → `3.2.10.RELEASE`

maven

<dependency><groupId>org.springframework.security</groupId><artifactId>spring-security-core</artifactId><version>3.2.10.RELEASE</version></dependency>

gradle

implementation("org.springframework.security:spring-security-core:3.2.10.RELEASE")

Severity breakdown

CVSS 3.0 7.5

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: High
Availability: None

References

Advisories

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-9879

Timeline

Sep 15, 2020 Published
Nov 29, 2024 Last updated by the source
Nov 1, 2026 Latest EPSS score

Advisory	Severity	Why it's related
GHSA-vxf7-qj7q-83fh Spring Security Vulnerable to User Attribute Enumeration when Using DaoAuthenticationProvider	Low	Also affects org.springframework.security:spring-security-core
GHSA-x2wq-9x2f-fhj7 Spring Security Core has a TOCTOU race condition when One-Time Token login with JdbcOneTimeTokenService is configured	Medium	Also affects org.springframework.security:spring-security-core
GHSA-vqxh-445g-37fc Spring Security has a broken timing attack mitigation implemented in DaoAuthenticationProvide	Medium	Also affects org.springframework.security:spring-security-core
GHSA-8v5q-rhf3-jphm Spring Security annotation detection mechanism has authorization bypass	High	Also affects org.springframework.security:spring-security-core
GHSA-9pp5-9c7g-4r83 Spring Security authorization bypass for method security annotations on private methods	Critical	Also affects org.springframework.security:spring-security-core
GHSA-hh3m-g4qj-4835 Spring Security Vulnerable to Authorization Bypass via Security Annotations	Medium	Also affects org.springframework.security:spring-security-core
GHSA-q3v6-hm2v-pw99 Spring Framework has Authorization Bypass for Case Sensitive Comparisons	Medium	Also affects org.springframework.security:spring-security-core
GHSA-hmqf-wpq9-jq83 Spring Security Missing Authorization vulnerability	High	Also affects org.springframework.security:spring-security-core

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