CVE-2020-35518 [Medium] | Information Disclosure in 389 Directory Server

When binding against a DN during authentication, the reply from 389-ds-base will be different whether the DN exists or not. This can be used by an unauthenticated attacker to check the existence of an entry in the LDAP database.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-01-06	0.71%	0.80%	+0.09%
2	2025-11-21	1.63%	0.71%	-0.92%
3	2025-11-18	—	1.63%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-01-06

0.71%

0.80%

+0.09%

2025-11-21

1.63%

0.71%

-0.92%

2025-11-18

—

1.63%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.3	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N` 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:L) Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	3.9	1.4	[email protected]
5.0	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N` 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:P) Partial confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:N) No integrity impact. Availability impact (A:N) No availability impact.	10.0	2.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.3

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N 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:L): Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

3.9

1.4

[email protected]

5.0

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N 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:P): Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N): No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N): No availability impact.

10.0

2.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-35518

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2020-35518 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (389-ds-base), 4 status rows across 4 suites (bookworm, bullseye, sid, trixie): resolved 4.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-35518
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-35518
`suse`	medium	CVE-2020-35518 severity moderate: SUSE including 24 source package names (389-ds, 389-ds-1.4.3.19~git0.bef0b5bed-3.12.1, …), 64 product×package rows across 17 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (17 product lines)): Will Not Fix 37, Fixed 19, Known Not Affected 8.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-35518/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2020-35518 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (389-ds-base), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 11, released 2, DNE 1, ignored 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-35518

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-35518

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
redhat	389_directory_server	< 1.4.3.19	cpe:2.3:o:redhat:389_directory_server::::::::
redhat	389_directory_server	>= 1.4.4.0, < 1.4.4.13	cpe:2.3:o:redhat:389_directory_server::::::::
redhat	389_directory_server	>= 2.0.0, < 2.0.3	cpe:2.3:o:redhat:389_directory_server::::::::
redhat	directory_server	11.0	cpe:2.3:a:redhat:directory_server:11.0:::::::*
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:::::::*

References for CVE-2020-35518

URL	Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1905565	Issue Tracking Patch Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/389ds/389-ds-base/commit/b6aae4d8e7c8a6ddd21646f94fef1bf7f22c3f32	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/389ds/389-ds-base/commit/cc0f69283abc082488824702dae485b8eae938bc	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/389ds/389-ds-base/issues/4480	Patch Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2020-35518

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-35518

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-35518

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-35518

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-35518

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-35518

References for CVE-2020-35518