CVE-2020-7905 in IntelliJ IDEA
Summary
by MITRE
Ports listened to by JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA before 2019.3 were exposed to the network.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/31/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-7905 affects JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA versions prior to 2019.3, representing a significant security oversight in the popular integrated development environment. This issue stems from the application's default configuration where certain ports remain accessible to network traffic without proper access controls or authentication mechanisms. The flaw creates an attack surface that could be exploited by malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to development environments, potentially compromising sensitive code repositories and development infrastructure. The vulnerability specifically impacts the network listening behavior of IntelliJ IDEA, where ports that should remain locally bound are instead exposed to external network connections.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the application's network stack configuration where specific ports are opened and bound to all network interfaces rather than being restricted to localhost only. This misconfiguration allows any network entity to connect to these listening ports, potentially enabling remote code execution, data exfiltration, or system compromise. The flaw represents a classic case of insufficient network access control, which aligns with CWE-668 - "Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere" and CWE-284 - "Improper Access Control." Attackers could leverage this exposure to perform various malicious activities including but not limited to unauthorized access to development tools, potential exploitation of debugging interfaces, or interception of sensitive data transmitted through these network connections.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-7905 extends beyond simple network exposure, as it fundamentally undermines the security posture of development environments where IntelliJ IDEA is deployed. Organizations using affected versions face heightened risk of compromise, particularly in environments where development workspaces are connected to production networks or where multiple developers share network resources. The vulnerability becomes especially dangerous in corporate environments where developers might be working on sensitive projects involving intellectual property, customer data, or proprietary code. Security teams must consider that this exposure could be combined with other vulnerabilities to create more sophisticated attack vectors, potentially leading to full system compromise or data breaches.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-7905 primarily involve upgrading to JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA version 2019.3 or later, which includes proper network binding configurations that restrict port accessibility to localhost only. Organizations should also implement network segmentation and firewall rules to prevent unauthorized access to development environments, particularly when upgrading is not immediately feasible. The implementation of network monitoring solutions can help detect unusual traffic patterns on the affected ports, providing early warning of potential exploitation attempts. Additionally, security teams should conduct comprehensive network audits to identify any other applications or services that might be exhibiting similar exposure issues, as this vulnerability type often indicates broader network security misconfigurations. The remediation process should also include regular security assessments of development environments to ensure that similar vulnerabilities are not present in other tools or services within the development infrastructure.