What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-27978?

CVE-2020-27978 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (High). CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. EPSS exploitation probability: 1.8%.

Shibboleth CVE-2020-27978

HIGH

Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (CWE-770)

2020-10-28 cve@mitre.org

Denial Of Service Java Identity Provider Shibboleth

7.5

CVSS 3.1 · NVD

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Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness	CWE CWE-770 OWASP Top 10:2025 A06:2025 - Insecure Design ASVS 5.0 V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource allocation limits MITRE ATT&CK 1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. Sign in to read
Impact	CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required.
Exploit ScenarioDerived	A remote attacker could exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).

No patch listed yet 1.8% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAI

Shibboleth Identify Provider 3.x before 3.4.6 has a denial of service flaw. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Set resource limits, implement rate limiting, validate input sizes.

Affects your stack

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified as Allocation of Resources Without Limits (CWE-770), which allows attackers to exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation. Shibboleth Identify Provider 3.x before 3.4.6 has a denial of service flaw. A remote unauthenticated attacker can cause a login flow to trigger Java heap exhaustion due to the creation of objects in the Java Servlet container session. Affected products include: Shibboleth Identity Provider. Version information: before 3.4.6.

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Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 7.5 HIGH

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

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

DescriptionNVD

Shibboleth Identify Provider 3.x before 3.4.6 has a denial of service flaw. A remote unauthenticated attacker can cause a login flow to trigger Java heap exhaustion due to the creation of objects in the Java Servlet container session.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score

1.8%

Top 24% exploitable

Data Quality

2 sources

Confidence: Low

NVD

CVE.org

EPSS

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue

Severity HIGH

CISA KEV No

Public POC No

EPSS 1.8%

Patch available No

Active threat No

Deciding rule

HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)

What every action level means

Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.

Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived

Scheduled

Exploitation· derived

None

System Exposure· derived

Open

Automatable· derived

Yes

Human Impact· derived

Medium

Priority Score

Low Medium High Critical

KEV: 0

EPSS: +2

CVSS: +38

PoC: 0

Weaponized: 0

Threat intel: 0

Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Denial of Service MEDIUM

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Affected Products (CPE)NVD

cpe:2.3:a:shibboleth:identity_provider:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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References

Advisories & patches

ADVISORY https://shibboleth.net/community/advisories/secadv_20191002.txt

Search Externally

GitHub PoC

Exploit-DB PacketStorm Snyk Rapid7 Nuclei Templates Trickest PoC

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