An account holding the nexus:settings:update permission in Nexus Repository 3 (or the equivalent nexus:settings permission in the legacy Nexus Repository 2) could submit arbitrary values as realm identifiers through an internal configuration API that did not validate them against the set of registered realms. Because unrecognized entries were persisted and re-evaluated on every realm load via a legacy code path, this could result in unintended code executing inside the Nexus Repository process, and in some cases a persistent authentication lockout that was not visible through the administrative UI.
Attack Parameters
Attack Vector
Network
Can be exploited remotely
Attack Complexity
Low
Easy to exploit
Attack Requirements
None
No additional conditions
Privileges Required
Low
Basic privileges needed
User Interaction
None
No user interaction needed
Impact Assessment
Confidentiality
None
No data leak
Integrity
High
Complete data modification
Availability
High
Complete denial of service
CVSS Vector v4.0
Weakness Type (CWE)
Vulnerable Products
sonatype:nexus repository