CVE-2020-13776

systemd through v245 mishandles numerical usernames such as ones composed of decimal digits or 0x followed by hex digits, as demonstrated by use of root privileges when privileges of the 0x0 user account were intended. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2017-1000082.

Published: 2020-06-03 Last update: 2025-06-09 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-13776 is rated Low Risk (38.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.13%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2020-13776

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 0.16% 0.13% -0.03%
2 2025-11-18 0.13% 0.16% +0.03%
3 2025-10-11 0.13%

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-13776

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
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.
0.8 5.9 [email protected]
6.7 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
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.
0.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
6.2 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
1.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-13776

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-13776

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2020-13776 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (systemd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-13776
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-13776
suse high CVE-2020-13776 severity important: SUSE including 8 source package names (systemd-239-45.el8, systemd-container-239-45.el8, …), 8 product×package rows across 1 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 8): Fixed 8. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-13776/
ubuntu low CVE-2020-13776 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (systemd), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 5, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-13776

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-13776

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
systemd_project systemd <= 245 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp active_iq_unified_manager cpe:2.3:a:netapp:active_iq_unified_manager:-:*:*:*:*:vmware_vsphere:*:*
netapp solidfire_\&_hci_management_node cpe:2.3:a:netapp:solidfire_\&_hci_management_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 32 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-13776

cvelogic Threat Intelligence