CVE-2020-10701

A missing authorization flaw was found in the libvirt API responsible for changing the QEMU agent response timeout. This flaw allows read-only connections to adjust the time that libvirt waits for the QEMU guest agent to respond to agent commands. Depending on the timeout value that is set, this flaw can make guest agent commands fail because the agent cannot respond in time. Unprivileged users with a read-only connection could abuse this flaw to set the response timeout for all guest agent messages to zero, potentially leading to a denial of service. This flaw affects libvirt versions before 6.2.0.

Published: 2021-05-27 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-10701 is rated Moderate Risk (45.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.86%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-10701

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.24% 0.86% +0.62%
2 2026-03-21 0.25% 0.24% -0.01%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.25% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-10701

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-10701

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-10701

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2020-10701: 1 source package rows (libvirt); 3 state rows across 3 repos (3.11-main, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 3. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-10701
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-10701 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libvirt), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-10701
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-10701
ubuntu low CVE-2020-10701 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libvirt), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, eoan, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 4, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-10701

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-10701

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
redhat libvirt < 6.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:libvirt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-10701

cvelogic Threat Intelligence