# CVE-2020-8919: Information leakage in Gerrit

> An attacker with default privileges can read other users' personal account data and restricted sub-trees due to a missing access check in the branch REST API.

- **Severity:** Low 3.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A: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:** 10 Dec 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xh5j-7f7g-7g5c

## What is CVE-2020-8919?

CVE-2020-8919 is a low-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Gerrit, published on 10 Dec 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An information leak vulnerability exists in Gerrit versions prior to 2.15.21, 2.16.25, 3.0.15, 3.1.10, 3.2.5 where a missing access check on the branch REST API allows an attacker with only the default set of priviledges to read all other user's personal account data as well as sub-trees with restricted access.

Weakness: CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization), CWE-285 (Improper Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-8919?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Google Gerrit.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-8919?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-8919 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-8919 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-8919 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gerrit

- [CVE-2021-22553](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22553/): Heap Memory exhaustion in Gerrit (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2026-2725](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-2725/): Improper Authorization in Gerrit allowing Code Review Bypass via "Submitted Together" (medium 6.0)
- [CVE-2020-8920](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8920/): Overoptimization leads to private information leak in Gerrit (low 3.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-8919 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-8919 is a low-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Gerrit, published on 10 Dec 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-8919 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Gerrit. 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-2020-8919/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8919/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-8919
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-8919
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-8919

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-8919/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.