CVE-2020-5229
Opencast stores passwords using outdated MD5 hash algorithm
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- GitHub_M
Description
Opencast before 8.1 stores passwords using the rather outdated and cryptographically insecure MD5 hash algorithm. Furthermore, the hashes are salted using the username instead of a random salt, causing hashes for users with the same username and password to collide which is problematic especially for popular users like the default `admin` user. This essentially means that for an attacker, it might be feasible to reconstruct a user's password given access to these hashes. Note that attackers needing access to the hashes means that they must gain access to the database in which these are stored first to be able to start cracking the passwords. The problem is addressed in Opencast 8.1 which now uses the modern and much stronger bcrypt password hashing algorithm for storing passwords. Note, that old hashes remain MD5 until the password is updated. For a list of users whose password hashes are stored using MD5, take a look at the `/user-utils/users/md5.json` REST endpoint.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.7 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High8.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.63% · top 50% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.7.
Weakness
Affected products
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- Mavenorg.opencastproject:opencast-common-jpa-implGHSA-h362-m8f2-5x7c (opens in a new tab)
References (2)
- https://github.com/opencast/opencast/security/advisories/GHSA-h362-m8f2-5x7c (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://github.com/opencast/opencast/commit/32bfbe5f78e214e2d589f92050228b91d704758e (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-h362-m8f2-5x7c (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2020-5229)Record last updated .