CVE-2020-8201

Node.js < 12.18.4 and < 14.11 can be exploited to perform HTTP desync attacks and deliver malicious payloads to unsuspecting users. The payloads can be crafted by an attacker to hijack user sessions, poison cookies, perform clickjacking, and a multitude of other attacks depending on the architecture of the underlying system. The attack was possible due to a bug in processing of carrier-return symbols in the HTTP header names.

Published: 2020-09-18 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-8201 is rated High Risk (66/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 5.09%, 91th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +4.45% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2020-8201

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 0.64% 5.09% +4.45%
2 2026-03-08 0.26% 0.64% +0.39%
3 2026-01-24 — 0.26% —

Full EPSS history (50 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-8201

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 5.2 [email protected]
5.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-8201

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-8201

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2020-8201: 2 source package rows (nodejs, nodejs-current); 26 state rows across 16 repos (3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-community, 3.17-main, 3.18-community, 3.18-main, 3.19-community, 3.19-main, 3.20-community, 3.20-main, 3.21-community, 3.21-main, 3.22-community, 3.22-main, edge-community, edge-main); fixed 16, open 10. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-8201
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-8201 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (nodejs), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-8201
gentoo normal CVE-2020-8201: 1 GLSA(s) (202101-07), 1 atom(s) (net-libs/nodejs); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-8201
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-8201
suse medium CVE-2020-8201 severity moderate: SUSE including 29 source package names (12:nodejs12-12.18.4-4.6.1, 12:npm12-12.18.4-4.6.1, …), 66 product×package rows across 16 product lines (Container bci/node, SUSE Liberty Linux 8, … (16 product lines)): Fixed 45, Known Not Affected 21. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-8201/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-8201 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (nodejs), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 7, ignored 4, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-8201

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-8201

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
nodejs node.js >= 12.0.0, < 12.18.4 cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:*:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
nodejs node.js >= 14.0.0, < 14.11.0 cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-8201

cvelogic Threat Intelligence