CVE-2020-14871

Exp

Vulnerability in the Oracle Solaris product of Oracle Systems (component: Pluggable authentication module). Supported versions that are affected are 10 and 11. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via multiple protocols to compromise Oracle Solaris. While the vulnerability is in Oracle Solaris, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle Solaris. Note: This CVE is not exploitable for Solaris 11.1 and later releases, and ZFSSA 8.7 and later releases, thus the CVSS Base Score is 0.0. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 10.0 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Published: 2020-10-21 Last update: 2025-10-27 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-14871 is rated Critical Active Threat (94.8/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 80.29%, 100th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2021-11-03) affecting Oracle / Solaris and Zettabyte File System (ZFS). a weakness (CWE-787) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

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

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2020-14871

Name: Oracle Solaris and Zettabyte File System (ZFS) Unspecified Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2021-11-03

Action due: 2022-05-03

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-14871

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
50039 exploit_db edb 2021-06-21 Exploit-DB ↗
49896 exploit_db edb 2021-05-21 Exploit-DB ↗
49261 exploit_db edb 2020-12-15 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-14871

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 89.80% 80.29% -9.51%
2 2026-06-14 88.87% 89.80% +0.93%
3 2025-11-21 — 88.87% —

Full EPSS history (39 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-14871

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
10.0 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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: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: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.
 3.9 6.0 [email protected]
10.0 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 10.0 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-14871

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-14871

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
oracle solaris >= 10, < 11.1 cpe:2.3:o:oracle:solaris:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle solaris 9 cpe:2.3:o:oracle:solaris:9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-14871

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159961/SunSSH-Solaris-10-x86-Remote-Root.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160510/Solaris-SunSSH-11.0-x86-libpam-Remote-Root.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160609/Oracle-Solaris-SunSSH-PAM-parse_user_name-Buffer-Overflow.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/163232/Solaris-SunSSH-11.0-Remote-Root.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/03/03/1 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/07/03/3 Mailing List Patch
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2020.html Vendor Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-14871 US Government Resource
cvelogic Threat Intelligence