# CVE-2020-1950: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption in Apache Tika

> Attackers can cause excessive memory usage and denial of service by providing a crafted PSD file to Apache Tika.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Mar 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2020-1950, GHSA-3h29-52vh-pqgr, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-1950

## What is CVE-2020-1950?

CVE-2020-1950 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 23 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

A carefully crafted or corrupt PSD file can cause excessive memory usage in Apache Tika's PSDParser in versions 1.0-1.23.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-1950?

2 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.apache.tika:tika. It affects 6 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `org.apache.tika:tika` | Maven | From 1.0 | 1.24 |
| `org.apache.tika:tika` | Maven | From 1.0 | 1.24 |

Products: Apache Tika, Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Oracle Business Process Management Suite, Oracle Communications Messaging Server, Oracle Flexcube Private Banking.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-1950?

Upgrade org.apache.tika:tika to 1.24 or later.

## Is CVE-2020-1950 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-1950 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2019-10088](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10088/): Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in Apache Tika (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2025-66516](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-66516/): Apache Tika has XXE vulnerability (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2025-54988](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-54988/): Apache Tika PDF parser module: XXE vulnerability in PDFParser's handling of XFA (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2018-1335](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1335/): Command injection in org.apache.tika:tika-core (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2019-10094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10094/): Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in Apache Tika (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-1950 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-1950 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 23 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-1950 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- org.apache.tika:tika (Maven): affected from 1.0; fixed in 1.24
- org.apache.tika:tika (Maven): affected from 1.0; fixed in 1.24

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-2020-1950/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1950/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-1950
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-1950
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-1950

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1950/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.