CVE-2020-10812Public exploit

Application crash via freed file object dereference

Published Mar 22, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

NULL pointer dereference in HDF5 1.12.0 and earlier allows local users to crash an application by supplying a corrupted HDF5 file. When an illegal file size makes close processing fail, H5F__dest clears the shared pointer and frees the file object while its ID-table entry remains, so shutdown later dereferences that stale object in H5F_get_nrefs. Exploitation requires the corrupted file to be opened by an HDF5-based process, and the demonstrated consequence is a process abort or segmentation-fault crash.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability1.52%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

NULL pointer dereference in HDF5 1.12.0 and earlier allows local users to crash an application by supplying a corrupted HDF5 file. When an illegal file size makes close processing fail, H5F__dest clears the shared pointer and frees the file object while its ID-table entry remains, so shutdown later dereferences that stale object in H5F_get_nrefs. Exploitation requires the corrupted file to be opened by an HDF5-based process, and the demonstrated consequence is a process abort or segmentation-fault crash.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-10812
Published
Mar 22, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-476, T1204.002
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 22, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference
T1204.002Malicious File

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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