CVE-2020-18897

Exp

An use-after-free vulnerability in the libpff_item_tree_create_node function of libyal Libpff before 20180623 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (DOS) or execute arbitrary code via a crafted pff file.

Published: 2021-08-19 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-18897 is rated High Exploit Risk (60.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.52%). 2 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-2020-18897

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-18897

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 0.08% 0.52% +0.44%
2 2025-03-30 0.19% 0.08% -0.11%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.19% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-18897

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/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: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: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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
4.4 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 3.4 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-18897

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-18897

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-18897 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libpff), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-18897
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-18897 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libpff), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 11, needs-triage 2, DNE 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-18897

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-18897

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
libpff_project libpff < 20180623 cpe:2.3:a:libpff_project:libpff:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-18897

URL Tags
https://github.com/libyal/libpff/issues/61 Exploit Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/libyal/libpff/issues/62 Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
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