CVE-2020-14968

Exp

An issue was discovered in the jsrsasign package before 8.0.17 for Node.js. Its RSASSA-PSS (RSA-PSS) implementation does not detect signature manipulation/modification by prepending '\0' bytes to a signature (it accepts these modified signatures as valid). An attacker can abuse this behavior in an application by creating multiple valid signatures where only one signature should exist. Also, an attacker might prepend these bytes with the goal of triggering memory corruption issues.

Published: 2020-06-22 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-14968 is rated High Exploit Risk (76.9/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.55%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-14968

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-14968

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 1.24% 0.55% -0.70%
2 2025-11-18 0.49% 1.24% +0.75%
3 2025-03-30 0.49%

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-14968

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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: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.
3.9 5.9 [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-2020-14968

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-14968

GHSA-q3gh-5r98-j4h3 · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: npm — RSA-PSS signature validation vulnerability by prepending zeros in jsrsasign

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-14968

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
jsrsasign_project jsrsasign < 8.0.17 cpe:2.3:a:jsrsasign_project:jsrsasign:*:*:*:*:*:node.js:*:*
netapp max_data cpe:2.3:a:netapp:max_data:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-14968

URL Tags
https://github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/issues/438 Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/releases/tag/8.0.17 Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/kjur/jsrsasign/releases/tag/8.0.18 Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://kjur.github.io/jsrsasign/ Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200724-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.npmjs.com/package/jsrsasign Product Third Party Advisory
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