CVE-2020-8231

Exp

Due to use of a dangling pointer, libcurl 7.29.0 through 7.71.1 can use the wrong connection when sending data.

Published: 2020-12-14 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-8231 is rated High Exploit Risk (79.4/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.72%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +3.50% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2020-8231

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-8231

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 0.22% 3.72% +3.50%
2 2026-01-29 0.12% 0.22% +0.10%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.12% —

Full EPSS history (35 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-8231

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:H/I:N/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: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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N 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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-8231

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-8231

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2020-8231: 1 source package rows (curl); 10 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-8231
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-8231 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (curl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-8231
gentoo normal CVE-2020-8231: 1 GLSA(s) (202012-14), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/curl); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-8231
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-8231
suse medium CVE-2020-8231 severity moderate: SUSE including 437 source package names (0.1.0:libcurl4-7.60.0-3.32.1, 0.1.75:libcurl4-7.60.0-3.32.1, …), 637 product×package rows across 209 product lines (Container bci/bci-init, Container bci/dotnet-aspnet, … (209 product lines)): Fixed 480, Known Affected 157. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-8231/
ubuntu low CVE-2020-8231 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (curl), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 5, not-affected 1, pending 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-8231

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-8231

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
haxx libcurl >= 7.29.0, <= 7.71.1 cpe:2.3:a:haxx:libcurl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
siemens sinec_infrastructure_network_services < 1.0.1.1 cpe:2.3:a:siemens:sinec_infrastructure_network_services:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_cloud_native_core_policy 1.14.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_cloud_native_core_policy:1.14.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
splunk universal_forwarder >= 8.2.0, < 8.2.12 cpe:2.3:a:splunk:universal_forwarder:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
splunk universal_forwarder >= 9.0.0, < 9.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:splunk:universal_forwarder:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
splunk universal_forwarder 9.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:splunk:universal_forwarder:9.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-8231

URL Tags
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-389290.pdf Patch Third Party Advisory
https://curl.haxx.se/docs/CVE-2020-8231.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://hackerone.com/reports/948876 Exploit Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202012-14 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4881 Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html Patch Third Party Advisory
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