CVE-2020-15173 | Heap buffer overflow in ACCEL-PPP

In ACCEL-PPP (an implementation of PPTP/PPPoE/L2TP/SSTP), there is a buffer overflow when receiving an l2tp control packet ith an AVP which type is a string and no hidden flags, length set to less than 6. If your application is used in open networks or there are untrusted nodes in the network it is highly recommended to apply the patch. The problem was patched with commit 2324bcd5ba12cf28f47357a8f03cd41b7c04c52b As a workaround changes of commit 2324bcd5ba12cf28f47357a8f03cd41b7c04c52b can be applied to older versions.

Published: 2020-09-09 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-15173 is rated Moderate Risk (54/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.46%). 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-2020-15173

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 2025-03-30 0.66% 0.46% -0.20%
2 2025-03-29 0.46% 0.66% +0.20%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.46% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-15173

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.2 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
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 4.2 [email protected]
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-2020-15173

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-15173

vendor priority summary link
alpine critical CVE-2020-15173: 1 source package rows (accel-ppp); 3 state rows across 3 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community); fixed 0, open 3. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-15173

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-15173

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
accel-ppp accel-ppp <= 1.12.0-92-g38b6104 cpe:2.3:a:accel-ppp:accel-ppp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-15173

cvelogic Threat Intelligence