CVE-2020-11994

Vulnerability

Overview

CVE-2020-11994 describes a Server-Side Template Injection (SSTI) flaw in Apache Camel's templating components, particularly in the camel-robotframework component. The root cause is the failure to properly sanitize or restrict template expressions passed to the template engine, allowing an attacker to inject malicious template code. This vulnerability is classified as a template injection that can lead to arbitrary file disclosure [1][2].

Exploitation

Conditions

Exploitation requires the ability to provide untrusted input that is used as a template expression or included in the template processing pipeline. The attacker does not need authentication to trigger the vulnerability if the endpoint is exposed, but they must be able to craft a request that supplies a malicious template expression. The Camel templating components process this input server-side, allowing the injection to propagate to the template engine without proper validation [2].

Impact

Successful exploitation enables an attacker to inject arbitrary template directives, leading to server-side template injection (SSTI). The primary impact is arbitrary file disclosure, where the attacker can read sensitive files from the server file system. In more severe scenarios, depending on the template engine capabilities, this could escalate to remote code execution, though the advisory focuses on file disclosure as the confirmed impact [1][2].

Mitigation

Users should upgrade Apache Camel to version 3.4.0 or higher for the camel-robotframework component, which contains the fix. No workarounds are documented; the vendor recommends updating as soon as possible. This vulnerability is listed in the Snyk vulnerability database, and applying the patch is the definitive mitigation [2].