Vulnerability Monitor

The vendors, products, and vulnerabilities you care about

CVE-2020-13959


The default error page for VelocityView in Apache Velocity Tools prior to 3.1 reflects back the vm file that was entered as part of the URL. An attacker can set an XSS payload file as this vm file in the URL which results in this payload being executed. XSS vulnerabilities allow attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript in the context of the attacked website and the attacked user. This can be abused to steal session cookies, perform requests in the name of the victim or for phishing attacks.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.1, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity though user interaction is required and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts limited data confidentiality, limited integrity, for affected systems. Impacting 2 products from apache, from debian organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Reported in 2021, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.


Published

2021-03-10T08:15:14.760

Last Modified

2024-11-21T05:02:14.527

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 6.1 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

  • Access Vector: NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: MEDIUM
  • Authentication: NONE
  • Confidentiality Impact: NONE
  • Integrity Impact: PARTIAL
  • Availability Impact: NONE
Exploitability Score

8.6

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses
  • Type: Secondary
    CWE-79
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-79

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Application apache velocity_tools < 3.1 Yes
Operating System debian debian_linux 9.0 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For apache's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.