CVE-2020-10878

Perl before 5.30.3 has an integer overflow related to mishandling of a "PL_regkind[OP(n)] == NOTHING" situation. A crafted regular expression could lead to malformed bytecode with a possibility of instruction injection.

Published: 2020-06-05 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-10878 is rated Moderate Risk (43.8/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.10%). Mandatory action: 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-2020-10878

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 2025-11-21 0.93% 0.10% -0.83%
2 2025-11-18 0.15% 0.93% +0.78%
3 2025-08-02 0.15%

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-10878

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.6 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 4.7 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-10878

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-10878

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2020-10878: 1 source package rows (perl); 30 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 20. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-10878
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-10878 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (perl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-10878
gentoo normal CVE-2020-10878: 1 GLSA(s) (202006-03), 1 atom(s) (dev-lang/perl); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-10878
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-10878
suse medium CVE-2020-10878 severity moderate: SUSE including 404 source package names (0.1.0:perl-base-5.26.1-7.12.1, 0.1.75:perl-base-5.26.1-7.12.1, …), 600 product×package rows across 143 product lines (Container caasp/v4/389-ds, Container caasp/v4/busybox, … (143 product lines)): Fixed 423, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 20. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-10878/
ubuntu low CVE-2020-10878 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (perl), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, groovy, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 5, ignored 1, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-10878

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-10878

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
perl perl < 5.30.3 cpe:2.3:a:perl:perl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 31 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp oncommand_workflow_automation cpe:2.3:a:netapp:oncommand_workflow_automation:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp snap_creator_framework cpe:2.3:a:netapp:snap_creator_framework:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_billing_and_revenue_management 12.0.0.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_billing_and_revenue_management:12.0.0.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_billing_and_revenue_management 12.0.0.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_billing_and_revenue_management:12.0.0.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_diameter_signaling_router >= 8.0.0, <= 8.5.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_diameter_signaling_router:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_eagle_application_processor >= 16.1.0, <= 16.4.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_eagle_application_processor:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor 10.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor:10.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor 10.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor:10.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor 46.7 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor:46.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor 46.8 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor:46.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor 46.9 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_eagle_lnp_application_processor:46.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_lsms >= 13.1, <= 13.4 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_lsms:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_offline_mediation_controller 12.0.0.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_offline_mediation_controller:12.0.0.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_performance_intelligence_center >= 10.3.0.0.0, <= 10.3.0.2.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_performance_intelligence_center:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_performance_intelligence_center >= 10.4.0.1.0, <= 10.4.0.3.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_performance_intelligence_center:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_pricing_design_center 12.0.0.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_pricing_design_center:12.0.0.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle configuration_manager 12.1.2.0.8 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:configuration_manager:12.1.2.0.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle enterprise_manager_base_platform 13.4.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:enterprise_manager_base_platform:13.4.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle sd-wan_aware 8.2 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:sd-wan_aware:8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle sd-wan_aware 9.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:sd-wan_aware:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle sd-wan_aware 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:sd-wan_aware:9.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle tekelec_platform_distribution >= 7.4.0, <= 7.7.1 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:tekelec_platform_distribution:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-10878

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-06/msg00044.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/Perl/perl5/blob/blead/pod/perl5303delta.pod Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/Perl/perl5/compare/v5.30.2...v5.30.3 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/perl/perl5/commit/0a320d753fe7fca03df259a4dfd8e641e51edaa8 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/perl/perl5/commit/3295b48defa0f8570114877b063fe546dd348b3c Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IN3TTBO5KSGWE5IRIKDJ5JSQRH7ANNXE/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202006-03 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200611-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com//security-alerts/cpujul2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2020.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
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