CVE-2020-21469

Exp

An issue was discovered in PostgreSQL 12.2 allows attackers to cause a denial of service via repeatedly sending SIGHUP signals. NOTE: this is disputed by the vendor because untrusted users cannot send SIGHUP signals; they can only be sent by a PostgreSQL superuser, a user with pg_reload_conf access, or a user with sufficient privileges at the OS level (the postgres account or the root account).

Published: 2023-08-22 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-21469 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). 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-2020-21469

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-21469

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 0.07% 0.04% -0.04%
2 2025-11-18 0.04% 0.07% +0.03%
3 2024-02-09 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-21469

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 0.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-21469

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-21469

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2020-21469: 1 source package rows (postgresql); 1 state rows across 1 repos (edge-main); fixed 0, open 1. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-21469
debian unimportant CVE-2020-21469 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (postgresql-13), 1 status rows across 1 suites (bullseye): resolved 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-21469
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-21469
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-21469 medium priority: Ubuntu including 6 source packages (postgresql-10, postgresql-12, postgresql-14, postgresql-9.1, postgresql-9.3, postgresql-9.5), 54 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 41, not-affected 5, needs-triage 4, ignored 2, released 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-21469

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-21469

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
postgresql postgresql 12.2 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:12.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-21469

cvelogic Threat Intelligence