CVE-2025-55039

published 2025-10-15

CVE-2025-55039: This issue affects Apache Spark versions before 3.4.4, 3.5.2 and 4.0.0. Apache Spark versions before 4.0.0, 3.5.2 and 3.4.4 use an insecure default network…

Priority P3 37 medium 6.5 CVSS 3.1

AV N AC L PR N UI N S U C L I L A N

This issue affects Apache Spark versions before 3.4.4, 3.5.2 and 4.0.0.

Apache Spark versions before 4.0.0, 3.5.2 and 3.4.4 use an insecure default network encryption cipher for RPC communication between nodes.

When spark.network.crypto.enabled is set to true (it is set to false by default), but spark.network.crypto.cipher is not explicitly configured, Spark defaults to AES in CTR mode (AES/CTR/NoPadding), which provides encryption without authentication.

This vulnerability allows a man-in-the-middle attacker to modify encrypted RPC traffic undetected by flipping bits in ciphertext, potentially compromising heartbeat messages or application data and affecting the integrity of Spark workflows.

To mitigate this issue, users should either configure spark.network.crypto.cipher to AES/GCM/NoPadding to enable authenticated encryption or

enable SSL encryption by setting spark.ssl.enabled to true, which provides stronger transport security.

Affected

4 ranges

Vendor	Product	Version range	Fixed in
apache	spark	< 3.4.4	3.4.4
apache	spark	>= 3.5.0 < 3.5.2	3.5.2
apache_software_foundation	apache_spark	< 3.4.4	3.4.4
apache_software_foundation	apache_spark	>= 3.5.0 < 3.5.2	3.5.2

CVSS provenance

nvd v3.1 6.5 MEDIUM CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

vendor_oracle 6.5 MEDIUM

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