# CVE-2020-13949: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in Apache Thrift

> Malicious RPC clients can cause large memory allocations leading to denial of service in Apache Thrift.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Feb 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** BIT-thrift-2020-13949, CLEANSTART-2026-RX25743, CLEANSTART-2026-TJ89244, CLSA-2025-1750809966, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-13949, ECHO-fb93-a162-238f, GHSA-g2fg-mr77-6vrm, MGASA-2021-0578, MINI-78r4-xwvq-34qv, MINI-vjrc-2x57-rfph, MINI-wmhr-4wff-hfvr, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-13949, openSUSE-SU-2024:11459-1

## What is CVE-2020-13949?

CVE-2020-13949 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy, published on 12 Feb 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In Apache Thrift 0.9.3 to 0.13.0, malicious RPC clients could send short messages which would result in a large memory allocation, potentially leading to denial of service.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-13949?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.thrift:libthrift and thrift. It affects 4 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `org.apache.thrift:libthrift` | Maven | From 0.9.3 | 0.14.0 |
| `org.apache.thrift:libthrift` | Maven | From 0.9.3 | 0.14.0 |
| `thrift` | Bitnami | From 0.9.3 to 0.13.0 | None |
| `thrift` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 0.14.1-1.6 |

Products: Apache Hive, Apache Thrift, Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Network Slice Selection Function, Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-13949?

Upgrade org.apache.thrift:libthrift to 0.14.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2020-13949 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-13949 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy

- [CVE-2026-49845](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-49845/): Apache Hive: SQL Injection vulnerability in HiveMetaStore partition-name direct-SQL paths (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-21234](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-21234/): Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Jodd (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-55976](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-55976/): Apache Hive: SSRF vulnerability in Hive Avro Serde due to Insufficient input validation on avro.schema.url (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2018-1282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1282/): SQL Injection in hive-jdbc (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2022-41137](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-41137/): Apache Hive: Deserialization of untrusted data when fetching partitions from the Metastore (high 8.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-13949 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-13949 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Oracle Communications Cloud Native Core Policy, published on 12 Feb 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-13949 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- org.apache.thrift:libthrift (Maven): affected from 0.9.3; fixed in 0.14.0
- org.apache.thrift:libthrift (Maven): affected from 0.9.3; fixed in 0.14.0
- thrift (Bitnami): affected from 0.9.3 up to 0.13.0; no fix listed

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-13949/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-13949/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-13949
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-13949
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-13949

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-13949/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.