CVE-2020-10870

Local application crash via predictable temporary directory

Published Mar 23, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Predictable temporary directory creation in Zim 0.42-beta1 through 0.72.1 allows local users to crash the application. At startup, Zim derives /tmp/zim-USER from the account name and calls os.chmod() on an existing path without verifying its ownership, so an attacker-owned directory makes the permission change fail. Exploitation requires another local account able to create the victim's directory first in world-writable /tmp, and the bounded consequence is failure to start Zim.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.32%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Predictable temporary directory creation in Zim 0.42-beta1 through 0.72.1 allows local users to crash the application. At startup, Zim derives /tmp/zim-USER from the account name and calls os.chmod() on an existing path without verifying its ownership, so an attacker-owned directory makes the permission change fail. Exploitation requires another local account able to create the victim's directory first in world-writable /tmp, and the bounded consequence is failure to start Zim.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-10870
Published
Mar 23, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-330, T1499
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 23, 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 privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

5.5MITRECVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
2.1NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

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
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-330Use of Insufficiently Random Values
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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