CVE-2020-8471 | ABB Central Licensing System - Weak File Permissions

For the Central Licensing Server component used in ABB products ABB Ability™ System 800xA and related system extensions versions 5.1, 6.0 and 6.1, Compact HMI versions 5.1 and 6.0, Control Builder Safe 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0, Symphony Plus -S+ Operations 3.0 to 3.2 Symphony Plus -S+ Engineering 1.1 to 2.2, Composer Harmony 5.1, 6.0 and 6.1, Melody Composer 5.3, 6.1/6.2 and SPE for Melody 1.0SPx (Composer 6.3), Harmony OPC Server (HAOPC) Standalone 6.0, 6.1 and 7.0, ABB Ability™ System 800xA/ Advant® OCS Control Builder A 1.3 and 1.4, Advant® OCS AC100 OPC Server 5.1, 6.0 and 6.1, Composer CTK 6.1 and 6.2, AdvaBuild 3.7 SP1 and SP2, OPCServer for MOD 300 (non-800xA) 1.4, OPC Data Link 2.1 and 2.2, Knowledge Manager 8.0, 9.0 and 9.1, Manufacturing Operations Management 1812 and 1909, weak file permissions allow an authenticated attacker to block the license handling, escalate his/her privileges and execute arbitrary code.

Published: 2020-04-29 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-8471 is rated Moderate Risk (40.9/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.36%). 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-2020-8471

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 0.14% 0.36% +0.21%
2 2025-03-30 0.25% 0.14% -0.11%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.25% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-8471

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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: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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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: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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
4.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
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:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 3.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-8471

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-8471

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
abb 800xa_system 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb 800xa_system 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:feature_pack_4:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb 800xa_system 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:feature_pack_4_revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb 800xa_system 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_a:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb 800xa_system 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_b:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb 800xa_system 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_c:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb 800xa_system 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb compact_hmi 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb compact_hmi 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:feature_pack_4_revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb compact_hmi 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:revision_b:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb compact_hmi 5.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb control_builder_safe 1.0 cpe:2.3:a:abb:control_builder_safe:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
abb control_builder_safe 1.1 cpe:2.3:a:abb:control_builder_safe:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-8471

cvelogic Threat Intelligence