# CVE-2020-37020: SonarQube 8.3.1 - Unquoted Service Path

> Local attackers can gain SYSTEM privileges by replacing the service executable due to an unquoted service path in SonarQube.

- **Severity:** High 8.5 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 29 Jan 2026
- **Updated:** 5 Mar 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xfp6-9wpp-48px

## What is CVE-2020-37020?

CVE-2020-37020 is a high-severity vulnerability in SonarQube, published on 29 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

SonarQube 8.3.1 contains an unquoted service path vulnerability that allows local attackers to gain SYSTEM privileges by exploiting the service executable path. Attackers can replace the wrapper.exe in the service path with a malicious executable to execute code with highest system privileges during service restart.

Weakness: CWE-428 (Unquoted Search Path or Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-37020?


## How do I fix CVE-2020-37020?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-37020 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-37020 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2020-37020 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-37020 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-37020 is a high-severity vulnerability in SonarQube, published on 29 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2020-37020 exists.

Affected product: SonarQube. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

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-2020-37020/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-37020/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-37020
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-37020
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-37020

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-37020/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.