CVE-2020-25643

A flaw was found in the HDLC_PPP module of the Linux kernel in versions before 5.9-rc7. Memory corruption and a read overflow is caused by improper input validation in the ppp_cp_parse_cr function which can cause the system to crash or cause a denial of service. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.

Published: 2020-10-06 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-25643 is rated Moderate Risk (62.1/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.25%). EPSS rose +2.99% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2020-25643

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 0.26% 3.25% +2.99%
2 2026-05-22 0.23% 0.26% +0.03%
3 2026-04-14 — 0.23% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-25643

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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: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.
 1.2 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:P/I:P/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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 6.8 8.5 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-25643

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-25643

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-25643 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-2020-25643
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-25643
suse high CVE-2020-25643 severity important: SUSE including 695 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, …), 1062 product×package rows across 117 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, … (117 product lines)): Fixed 878, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 27. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-25643/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-25643 medium priority: Ubuntu including 169 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner, …), 2181 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1696, not-affected 245, released 203, ignored 37. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-25643

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-25643

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 2.6.29, < 4.4.238 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.5, < 4.9.238 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.10, < 4.14.200 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.15, < 4.19.148 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.20, < 5.4.68 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 5.5, < 5.8.12 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.9.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.9.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.9.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.9.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.9.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 5.9.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410c_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410c_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
starwindsoftware starwind_virtual_san v8 cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san:v8:build12533:*:*:*:vsphere:*:*
starwindsoftware starwind_virtual_san v8 cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san:v8:build12658:*:*:*:vsphere:*:*
starwindsoftware starwind_virtual_san v8 cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san:v8:build12859:*:*:*:vsphere:*:*
starwindsoftware starwind_virtual_san v8 cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san:v8:build13170:*:*:*:vsphere:*:*
starwindsoftware starwind_virtual_san v8 cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san:v8:build13586:*:*:*:vsphere:*:*
starwindsoftware starwind_virtual_san v8 cpe:2.3:a:starwindsoftware:starwind_virtual_san:v8:build13861:*:*:*:vsphere:*:*

References for CVE-2020-25643

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-10/msg00021.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-10/msg00042.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1879981 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=66d42ed8b25b64eb63111a2b8582c5afc8bf1105 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/10/msg00028.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/10/msg00032.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/10/msg00034.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20201103-0002/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4774 Third Party Advisory
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/security/sw-20210325-0002/ Third Party Advisory
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