CVE-2020-35498

A vulnerability was found in openvswitch. A limitation in the implementation of userspace packet parsing can allow a malicious user to send a specially crafted packet causing the resulting megaflow in the kernel to be too wide, potentially causing a denial of service. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.

Published: 2021-02-11 Last update: 2025-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-35498 is rated Moderate Risk (61.6/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 5.69%, 91th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. 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-2020-35498

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 2026-05-29 5.76% 5.69% -0.08%
2 2026-03-04 3.85% 5.76% +1.91%
3 2026-03-01 — 3.85% —

Full EPSS history (54 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-35498

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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: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.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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: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.
 3.9 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
7.8 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 10.0 6.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-35498

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-35498

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2020-35498: 1 source package rows (openvswitch); 12 state rows across 8 repos (3.10-main, 3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 7, open 5. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-35498
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-35498 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (openvswitch), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-35498
gentoo low CVE-2020-35498: 1 GLSA(s) (202311-16), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/openvswitch); latest impact low. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-35498
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-35498
suse high CVE-2020-35498 severity important: SUSE including 148 source package names (libopenvswitch-2_11-0-2.11.5-3.15.3, libopenvswitch-2_11-0-2.11.5-3.9.1, …), 268 product×package rows across 54 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, … (54 product lines)): Fixed 253, Known Not Affected 15. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-35498/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-35498 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (openvswitch), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 4, DNE 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-35498

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-35498

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.5.0, < 2.5.12 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.6.0, < 2.6.10 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.13 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.11 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.9.0, < 2.9.9 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.10.0, < 2.10.7 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.11.0, < 2.11.6 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.12.0, < 2.12.3 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.13.0, < 2.13.3 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openvswitch openvswitch >= 2.14.0, < 2.14.2 cpe:2.3:a:openvswitch:openvswitch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-35498

cvelogic Threat Intelligence