CVE-2020-6016

Exp

Valve's Game Networking Sockets prior to version v1.2.0 improperly handles unreliable segments with negative offsets in function SNP_ReceiveUnreliableSegment(), leading to a Heap-Based Buffer Underflow and a free() of memory not from the heap, resulting in a memory corruption and probably even a remote code execution.

Published: 2020-11-18 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-6016 is rated High Exploit Risk (84.1/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 6.63%, 91th percentile). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-6016

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-6016

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 2025-11-21 8.50% 6.63% -1.87%
2 2025-11-18 6.63% 8.50% +1.87%
3 2025-10-22 6.63%

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-6016

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 5.9 [email protected]
10.0 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
10.0 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-6016

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-6016

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
valvesoftware game_networking_sockets < 1.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:valvesoftware:game_networking_sockets:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-6016

cvelogic Threat Intelligence