Cybersecurity professionals consider CVE-2020-3533 an immediate threat requiring urgent mitigation.
Status: Modified
Last updated: 🕢 11 Aug 2026, 19:37 UTC
Originally published on: 🕖 21 Oct 2020, 19:15 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 2120 days
CVSS Release: version 3
psirt@cisco.com
Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVE-2020-3533: A vulnerability in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) input packet processor of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause an affected device to restart unexpectedly. The vulnerability is due to a lack of sufficient memory management protections under heavy SNMP polling loads. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a high rate of SNMP requests to the SNMP daemon through the management interface on an affected device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the SNMP daemon process to consume a large amount of system memory over time, which could then lead to an unexpected device restart, causing a denial of service (DoS) condition. This vulnerability affects all versions of SNMP.
The exploitability of CVE-2020-3533 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).
With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2020-3533 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.
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-2020-3533, 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-2020-3533, 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: 0.159% (probability of exploit)
EPSS Percentile: 53.82%
(lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 46.18% of others.
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