CVE-2020-9480
CVSS v3
9.8
CRITICAL
EPSS Score
29.4 %
exploit probability, as of 2026-10-05
CISA KEV
No
known exploited
Exploitation
—
SSVC status
Description
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).
Technical details
- Published
- 2020-06-23
Frequently asked questions
What is CVE-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 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).
Is CVE-2020-9480 actively exploited?
Active exploitation of CVE-2020-9480 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 29.4% on 2026-10-05, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-9480?
CVE-2020-9480 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity).
Is CVE-2020-9480 affecting your environment?
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