CVE-2020-5423 | Cloud Controller is vulnerable to denial of service via YAML parsing

CAPI (Cloud Controller) versions prior to 1.101.0 are vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack in which an unauthenticated malicious attacker can send specially-crafted YAML files to certain endpoints, causing the YAML parser to consume excessive CPU and RAM.

Published: 2020-12-02 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-5423 is rated Moderate Risk (52.4/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.13%). Mandatory action: 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-2020-5423

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 0.42% 1.13% +0.71%
2 2025-03-30 0.60% 0.42% -0.18%
3 2025-03-29 0.60%

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-5423

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 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/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]
7.8 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-2020-5423

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-5423

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cloudfoundry capi-release < 1.101.0 cpe:2.3:a:cloudfoundry:capi-release:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cloudfoundry cf-deployment < 15.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:cloudfoundry:cf-deployment:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-5423

cvelogic Threat Intelligence