CVE-2020-28002: In SonarQube 8.4.2.36762, an external attacker can achieve authentication bypass through SonarScanner.
Noroxi assessment
Priority: Monitor (action score 21/100)
- The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 1% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 64.7% of all records.
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
- According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.
Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it
Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS
In SonarQube 8.4.2.36762, an external attacker can achieve authentication bypass through SonarScanner. With an empty value for the -D sonar.login option, anonymous authentication is forced. This allows creating and overwriting public and private projects via the /api/ce/submit endpoint.
- Published
- Nov 2, 2020
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 1.0% · 64th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-287
Report tools
Action score
21
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 21 / 40 · 5.3 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 1.0%
Get told when this record changes
- Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
- No public exploit code on record
- No fixed version yet
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
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Noroxi analysis
What does it mean in your environment?
The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected systems
Is your version affected?
Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| sonarsource | sonarqube | cpe:2.3:a:sonarsource:sonarqube |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- sonarsource sonarqube8.4.2.36762
Same product
sonarsource: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2020-27986SonarQube 8.4.2.36762 allows remote attackers to discover cleartext SMTP, SVN, and GitLab credentials via the api/settings/values URI.35Monitor
- CVE-2024-47911In SonarSource SonarQube 10.4 through 10.5 before 10.6, a vulnerability was discovered in the authorizations/group-memberships API endpoint 28Monitor
- CVE-2024-38460In SonarQube before 10.4 and 9.9.4 LTA, encrypted values generated using the Settings Encryption feature are potentially exposed in cleartex26Monitor
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2018-19413Dec 14, 2018 · A vulnerability in the API of SonarSource SonarQube before 7.4 could allow an authenticated user to discover sensitive information such as v17Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2019-17579Oct 14, 2019 · SonarSource SonarQube before 7.8 has XSS in project links on account/projects.24Monitor
- Later →CVE-2025-62292Oct 10, 2025 · In SonarQube before 25.6, 2025.3 Commercial, and 2025.1.3 LTA, authenticated low-privileged users can query the /api/v2/users-management/use17Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- low · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- none
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- Low
- Availability impact
- None
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-287 · Improper AuthenticationCVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
nvd-primary
Root cause
Authentication is added route by route instead of being enforced in one place. When a route added later bypasses the shared middleware, the session check never runs for it.
The bug in code
The whole CWE-287 classA representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.
Vulnerable
app.use("/admin", requireSession, adminRouter);
// Route added later skips the middleware
app.post("/admin-api/config", updateConfig);Fixed
const admin = express.Router();
admin.use(requireSession, requireRole("admin"));
admin.post("/config", updateConfig);
app.use("/admin", admin);Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
- Authentication AbuseCAPEC-114Medium
- Authentication BypassCAPEC-115Medium
- Identity SpoofingCAPEC-151likelihood: Medium · Medium
- Fake the Source of DataCAPEC-194Medium
- Exploiting Trust in ClientCAPEC-22likelihood: High · High
- Utilizing REST's Trust in the System Resource to Obtain Sensitive DataCAPEC-57likelihood: Medium · Very High
- Session HijackingCAPEC-593likelihood: High · Very High
- Token ImpersonationCAPEC-633Medium
ATT&CK techniques
Change log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.