#VU46670 Improper Authentication in ActiveMQ - CVE-2020-13920

Vulnerability identifier: #VU46670

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 4.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2020-13920

CWE-ID: CWE-287

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
ActiveMQ
Server applications / Mail servers

Vendor: Apache Foundation

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote non-authenticated attacker to gain access to sensitive information.

Apache ActiveMQ uses LocateRegistry.createRegistry() to create the JMX RMI registry and binds the server to the "jmxrmi" entry. It is possible to connect to the registry without authentication and call the rebind method to rebind jmxrmi to something else. If an attacker creates another server to proxy the original, and bound that, he effectively becomes a man in the middle and is able to intercept the credentials when an user connects.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

ActiveMQ: 5.15.0 - 5.15.11

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External links
https://activemq.apache.org/security-advisories.data/CVE-2020-13920-announcement.txt

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.