Highly exploitable, CVE-2020-24658 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.
Status: Analyzed
Last updated: 🕦 21 Jul 2021, 11:39 UTC
Originally published on: 🕕 24 Dec 2020, 18:15 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 208 days
CVSS Release: version 3
nvd@nist.gov
Primary
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVE-2020-24658: Arm Compiler 5 through 5.06u6 has an error in a stack protection feature designed to help spot stack-based buffer overflows in local arrays. When this feature is enabled, a protected function writes a guard value to the stack prior to (above) any vulnerable arrays in the stack. The guard value is checked for corruption on function return; corruption leads to an error-handler call. In certain circumstances, the reference value that is compared against the guard value is itself also written to the stack (after any vulnerable arrays). The reference value is written to the stack when the function runs out of registers to use for other temporary data. If both the reference value and the guard value are written to the stack, then the stack protection will fail to spot corruption when both values are overwritten with the same value. For both the reference value and the guard value to be corrupted, there would need to be both a buffer overflow and a buffer underflow in the vulnerable arrays (or some other vulnerability that causes two separated stack entries to be corrupted).
The exploitability of CVE-2020-24658 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
CVE-2020-24658 presents an accessible attack vector with minimal effort required. Restricting access controls and implementing security updates are critical to reducing exploitation risks.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2020-24658, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2020-24658, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.
EPSS Score: 0.053% (probability of exploit)
EPSS Percentile: 24.44%
(lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 75.56% of others.
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