# CVE-2020-8434: Hardcoded credentials in n/a

> Attackers can impersonate any user by generating valid session cookies using a hard-coded key, bypassing authentication and MFA in Jenzabar JICS.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 May 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xxqg-cq6p-jpqq

## What is CVE-2020-8434?

CVE-2020-8434 is a critical vulnerability in n/a, published on 19 May 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Jenzabar JICS (aka Internet Campus Solution) before 9.0.1 Patch 3, 9.1 before 9.1.2 Patch 2, and 9.2 before 9.2.2 Patch 8 has session cookies that are a deterministic function of the username. There is a hard-coded password to supply a PBKDF feeding into AES to encrypt a username and base64 encode it to a client-side cookie for persistent session authentication. By knowing the key and algorithm, an attacker can select any username, encrypt it, base64 encode it, and save it in their browser with the correct JICSLoginCookie cookie format to impersonate any real user in the JICS database without the need for authenticating (or verifying with MFA if implemented).

Weakness: CWE-384 (Session Fixation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-8434?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-8434?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-8434 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-8434 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-8434 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2019-10011](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10011/): Hardcoded credentials in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-10012](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-10012/): File upload in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-8434 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-8434 is a critical vulnerability in n/a, published on 19 May 2020. 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-2020-8434 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2020-8434/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8434/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-8434
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-8434
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-8434

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8434/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.