CVE-2020-11075 | Shell Escape in Anchore Engine

In Anchore Engine version 0.7.0, a specially crafted container image manifest, fetched from a registry, can be used to trigger a shell escape flaw in the anchore engine analyzer service during an image analysis process. The image analysis operation can only be executed by an authenticated user via a valid API request to anchore engine, or if an already added image that anchore is monitoring has its manifest altered to exploit the same flaw. A successful attack can be used to execute commands that run in the analyzer environment, with the same permissions as the user that anchore engine is run as - including access to the credentials that Engine uses to access its own database which have read-write ability, as well as access to the running engien analyzer service environment. By default Anchore Engine is released and deployed as a container where the user is non-root, but if users run Engine directly or explicitly set the user to 'root' then that level of access may be gained in the execution environment where Engine runs. This issue is fixed in version 0.7.1.

Published: 2020-05-27 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-11075 is rated Moderate Risk (58.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.06%). 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-2020-11075

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 2025-04-17 0.43% 1.06% +0.63%
2 2025-03-30 0.84% 0.43% -0.41%
3 2025-03-29 0.84%

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-11075

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.7 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N 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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.3 5.8 [email protected]
9.9 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.1 6.0 [email protected]
6.5 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-11075

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-11075

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
anchore engine 0.7.0 cpe:2.3:a:anchore:engine:0.7.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-11075

cvelogic Threat Intelligence