CVE-2020-3989

VMware Workstation (15.x) and Horizon Client for Windows (5.x before 5.4.4) contain a denial of service vulnerability due to an out-of-bounds write issue in Cortado ThinPrint component. A malicious actor with normal access to a virtual machine may be able to exploit this issue to create a partial denial-of-service condition on the system where Workstation or Horizon Client for Windows is installed. Exploitation is only possible if virtual printing has been enabled. This feature is not enabled by default on Workstation but it is enabled by default on Horizon Client.

Published: 2020-09-16 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-3989 is rated Low Risk (16.8/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2020-3989

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 2023-03-07 0.89% 0.04% -0.84%
2 2022-04-01 1.40% 0.89% -0.52%
3 2022-02-04 — 1.40% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-3989

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.3 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 1.8 1.4 [email protected]
2.1 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
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:P)
Partial availability impact.
 3.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-3989

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-3989

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
vmware horizon_client >= 5.0.0, < 5.4.4 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:horizon_client:*:*:*:*:*:windows:*:*
vmware workstation_player >= 15.0.0, < 16.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_player:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
vmware workstation_pro >= 15.0.0, < 16.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation_pro:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-3989

cvelogic Threat Intelligence