CVE-2020-8479 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2020-8479
Vulnerability Scoring

9.4
/10
Critical Risk

As a catastrophic security flaw, CVE-2020-8479 has severe implications, demanding immediate intervention.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low
    Exploits can be performed without significant complexity or special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Network
    Vulnerability is exploitable over a network without physical access.
  • Privileges Required: None
    No privileges are required for exploitation.
  • Scope: Unchanged
    Exploit remains within the originally vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: None
    No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2020-8479 Details

Status: Modified

Last updated: 🕠 21 Nov 2024, 05:38 UTC
Originally published on: 🕑 29 Apr 2020, 02:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 1667 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

cybersecurity@ch.abb.com

CVSS3 Type

Secondary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L

CVE-2020-8479 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2020-8479: 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, ABB AbilityTM SCADAvantage versions 5.1 to 5.6.5. an XML External Entity Injection vulnerability exists that allows an attacker to read or call arbitrary files from the license server and/or from the network and also block the license handling.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2020-8479

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2020-8479 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).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2020-8479

With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2020-8479 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Understanding AC and PR

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.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2020-8479, 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.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2020-8479, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: High
    Exploiting CVE-2020-8479 can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, severely compromising data privacy.
  • Integrity: High
    CVE-2020-8479 could allow unauthorized modifications to data, potentially affecting system reliability and trust.
  • Availability: Low
    CVE-2020-8479 may slightly degrade system performance without fully affecting service availability.

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 1.484% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 86.93% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 13.069999999999993% of others.

CVE-2020-8479 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-91

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • XML Injection CAPEC-250 An attacker utilizes crafted XML user-controllable input to probe, attack, and inject data into the XML database, using techniques similar to SQL injection. The user-controllable input can allow for unauthorized viewing of data, bypassing authentication or the front-end application for direct XML database access, and possibly altering database information.
  • XPath Injection CAPEC-83 An attacker can craft special user-controllable input consisting of XPath expressions to inject the XML database and bypass authentication or glean information that they normally would not be able to. XPath Injection enables an attacker to talk directly to the XML database, thus bypassing the application completely. XPath Injection results from the failure of an application to properly sanitize input used as part of dynamic XPath expressions used to query an XML database.

Vulnerable Configurations

  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:feature_pack_4:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:feature_pack_4:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:feature_pack_4_revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:feature_pack_4_revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_a:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_a:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_b:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_b:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_c:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_c:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_e:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_e:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_e_feature_pack_4:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:5.1:revision_e_feature_pack_4:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:6.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:6.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:6.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:6.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:6.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:800xa_system:6.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:feature_pack_4_revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:feature_pack_4_revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:revision_b:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:revision_b:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:5.1:revision_d:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:6.0.1-1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:6.0.1-1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:6.0.3-2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:compact_hmi:6.0.3-2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:control_builder_safe:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:control_builder_safe:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:control_builder_safe:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:control_builder_safe:1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:a:abb:control_builder_safe:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:a:abb:control_builder_safe:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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