CVE-2020-7929 | Specially crafted regex query can cause DoS

A user authorized to perform database queries may trigger denial of service by issuing specially crafted query contain a type of regex. This issue affects MongoDB Server v3.6 versions prior to 3.6.21 and MongoDB Server v4.0 versions prior to 4.0.20.

Published: 2021-03-01 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-7929 is rated Moderate Risk (50.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.29%). 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-2020-7929

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 0.44% 1.29% +0.85%
2 2025-12-28 0.49% 0.44% -0.05%
3 2025-12-27 0.49%

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-7929

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.8 3.6 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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: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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P 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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-7929

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-7929

vendor priority summary link
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-7929
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-7929 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (mongodb), 16 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 11, deferred 2, not-affected 2, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-7929

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-7929

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mongodb mongodb >= 3.6.0, < 3.6.21 cpe:2.3:a:mongodb:mongodb:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
mongodb mongodb >= 4.0.0, < 4.0.20 cpe:2.3:a:mongodb:mongodb:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-7929

URL Tags
https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/SERVER-51083 Issue Tracking Patch Vendor Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence