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Vulnerabilities

Vulnerability · CVE-2020-9480

Apache Spark Missing Authentication for Critical Function

Published May 10, 2024 · catalog updated May 10, 2024 · Apache Spark

Patch now

CVE-2020-9480 is in the CISA known-exploited catalog. Confirm Apache Spark against the vendor advisory and apply that fix. The CVSS score does not change the priority.

Severity
Unknown—
Known exploitation
CISA KEV and VulnCheck KEV
EPSS
29.37%
Remediation
Remediation guidance
Affected products
stated Spark · vendor Apache Spark

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).

Are you affected?

Enter the version you run. The result uses only the ranges stored on this record.

The check returns affected, not affected, or incomplete. It does not guess a version that is missing from the record.

  • stated Spark<= 2.4.5
  • vendor Apache Sparkversion unspecified

How to fix CVE-2020-9480

What to do

Three questions, each answered from this record only. Confirm the vendor advisory before you patch.

Should you patch?

CVE-2020-9480 is in the CISA known-exploited catalog. Confirm Apache Spark against the vendor advisory and apply that fix. The CVSS score does not change the priority.

Which versions are affected?

Compare what you have installed with Spark <= 2.4.5. Apply remediations or mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if remediation or mitigations are unavailable.

What should an analyst verify?

No weakness class is stored. EPSS 29.37%. The CISA KEV listing is the exploitation evidence. No Exploit-DB or Metasploit reference is linked. Use the source links for the original advisory.

Code

The project this record applies to. Exploit listings stay in References.

No public source repository is identified for this product.

Timeline

Detection, updates, and resolution for this record.

  1. May 10, 2024 · VulnCheck KEV

    Detected

    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 doe

  2. May 10, 2024 · CISA KEV

    Known exploited

    Apply remediations or mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if remediation or mitigations are unavailable.

Sources

  • CVE.orgVulnerability recordCVE-2020-9480

    Official CVE identifier

    cve.org
  • FIRST EPSSExploitation probabilityCVE-2020-9480

    30-day exploitation probability 29.4%

    first.org
  • VulnCheck KEVConfirmed exploitationCVE-2020-9480

    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 S

    vulncheck.com

References

Freshness

Last verified in this catalog Oct 18, 2026. Significant claims (KEV, EPSS, CVSS, affected ranges) come from the source rows above — open the original publisher for the authoritative advisory.