CVE-2020-8908
CWE-378Published: December 10, 2020· Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Official Description
A temp directory creation vulnerability exists in all versions of Guava, allowing an attacker with access to the machine to potentially access data in a temporary directory created by the Guava API com.google.common.io.Files.createTempDir(). By default, on unix-like systems, the created directory is world-readable (readable by an attacker with access to the system). The method in question has been marked @Deprecated in versions 30.0 and later and should not be used. For Android developers, we recommend choosing a temporary directory API provided by Android, such as context.getCacheDir(). For other Java developers, we recommend migrating to the Java 7 API java.nio.file.Files.createTempDirectory() which explicitly configures permissions of 700, or configuring the Java runtime's java.io.tmpdir system property to point to a location whose permissions are appropriately configured.
Technical Analysis
CVE-2020-8908 requires local access, meaning attackers must already have a foothold on the target system.
Exploitation requires low privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.
CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown
Affected Vendors & Products
Exploit & PoC Resources
Official Patches & Advisories
All References (86)
Quick Facts
Related CVEs (CWE-378)
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2020-8908 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts