CVE-2020-1931

A command execution issue was found in Apache SpamAssassin prior to 3.4.3. Carefully crafted nefarious Configuration (.cf) files can be configured to run system commands similar to CVE-2018-11805. This issue is less stealthy and attempts to exploit the issue will throw warnings. Thanks to Damian Lukowski at credativ for reporting the issue ethically. With this bug unpatched, exploits can be injected in a number of scenarios though doing so remotely is difficult. In addition to upgrading to SA 3.4.4, we again recommend that users should only use update channels or 3rd party .cf files from trusted places.

Published: 2020-01-30 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-1931 is rated High Risk (69.9/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 6.46%, 93th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +4.99% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2020-1931

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 1.47% 6.46% +4.99%
2 2026-06-10 1.09% 1.47% +0.38%
3 2025-11-21 — 1.09% —

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-1931

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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.
 2.2 5.9 [email protected]
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-1931

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-1931

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2020-1931: 1 source package rows (spamassassin); 15 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 5. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-1931
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-1931 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (spamassassin), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-1931
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-1931
suse high CVE-2020-1931 severity important: SUSE including 21 source package names (perl-Mail-SpamAssassin-3.4.2-12.5.1, perl-Mail-SpamAssassin-3.4.2-44.8.1, …), 87 product×package rows across 44 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE Enterprise Storage 4, … (44 product lines)): Fixed 87. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-1931/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-1931 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (spamassassin), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, eoan, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-1931

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-1931

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache spamassassin < 3.4.3 cpe:2.3:a:apache:spamassassin:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-1931

cvelogic Threat Intelligence