CVE-2020-28163

libdwarf before 20201201 allows a dwarf_print_lines.c NULL pointer dereference and application crash via a DWARF5 line-table header that has an invalid FORM for a pathname.

Published: 2023-04-15 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-28163 is rated Moderate Risk (44.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.79%). 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-2020-28163

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 0.48% 0.79% +0.31%
2 2026-04-17 0.08% 0.48% +0.40%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.08% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-28163

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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: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: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.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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: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: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.
 2.8 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-28163

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-28163

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2020-28163: 1 source package rows (libdwarf); 19 state rows across 6 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, 3.23-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 19. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-28163
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-28163 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (dwarfutils), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-28163
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-28163
suse medium CVE-2020-28163 severity moderate: SUSE including 6 source package names (libdwarf, libdwarf-devel, libdwarf-devel-static, libdwarf-doc, libdwarf-tools, libdwarf1), 8 product×package rows across 2 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP4, SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP5): Known Not Affected 8. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-28163/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-28163 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (dwarfutils), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 10, needs-triage 3, ignored 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-28163

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-28163

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
libdwarf_project libdwarf < 2020-12-01 cpe:2.3:a:libdwarf_project:libdwarf:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-28163

cvelogic Threat Intelligence