CVE-2020-15436

Exp

Use-after-free vulnerability in fs/block_dev.c in the Linux kernel before 5.8 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service by leveraging improper access to a certain error field.

Published: 2020-11-23 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-15436 is rated Exploit Available (54.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.15%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2020-15436

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-15436

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 2026-01-24 0.08% 0.15% +0.07%
2 2026-01-11 0.15% 0.08% -0.07%
3 2025-11-17 — 0.15% —

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-15436

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:L/PR:H/UI:N/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:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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.
 0.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/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: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.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-15436

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-15436

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-15436 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-15436
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-15436
suse medium CVE-2020-15436 severity moderate: SUSE including 664 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 1033 product×package rows across 117 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, … (117 product lines)): Fixed 875, Known Affected 129, Known Not Affected 29. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-15436/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-15436 medium priority: Ubuntu including 117 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 1219 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 879, released 167, not-affected 153, ignored 20. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-15436

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-15436

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 2.6.38, < 4.4.229 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.5, < 4.9.229 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.10, < 4.14.186 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.15, < 4.19.130 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.49 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.7.6 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
broadcom brocade_fabric_operating_system_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:broadcom:brocade_fabric_operating_system_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp cloud_backup — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:cloud_backup:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire_\&_hci_management_node — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:solidfire_\&_hci_management_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire_baseboard_management_controller_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:solidfire_baseboard_management_controller_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410c_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410c_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h610c_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h610c_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h610s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h610s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h615c_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h615c_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp a700s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:a700s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp aff_8700_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:aff_8700_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp fas_8700_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:fas_8700_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp aff_8300_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:aff_8300_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp fas_8300_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:fas_8300_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp aff_a400_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:aff_a400_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp fabric-attached_storage_a400_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:fabric-attached_storage_a400_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp a250_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:a250_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp aff_500f_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:aff_500f_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp fas_500f_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:fas_500f_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-15436

URL Tags
https://lkml.org/lkml/2020/6/7/379 Exploit Patch Vendor Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20201218-0002/ Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence