CVE-2020-12801

Unencrypted saves via lost recovery encryption state

Published May 18, 2020 · Updated Nov 18, 2024

Cleartext storage in LibreOffice 6.3 before 6.3.6 and 6.4 before 6.4.3 causes recovered Microsoft Office files to save unencrypted. The recovery workflow preserves encryption in autosave and prompts for decryption, but then resets the subsequent save default to unencrypted for non-ODF formats. Exposure requires an encrypted non-ODF document, an application crash, successful password recovery, and a later user save, which can disclose document contents at rest.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability1.26%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Cleartext storage in LibreOffice 6.3 before 6.3.6 and 6.4 before 6.4.3 causes recovered Microsoft Office files to save unencrypted. The recovery workflow preserves encryption in autosave and prompts for decryption, but then resets the subsequent save default to unencrypted for non-ODF formats. Exposure requires an encrypted non-ODF document, an application crash, successful password recovery, and a later user save, which can disclose document contents at rest.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-12801
Published
May 18, 2020
Updated
Nov 18, 2024
Vendor
The Document Foundation
Product
LibreOffice
Classifications
CWE-312, CWE-311
Attack vector
Unavailable
Privileges
Unavailable

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 18, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Nov 18, 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?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=6-3 series <6.3.6
  2. Affected versionversion=6-4 series <6.4.3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorUnavailable in this record.
Required privilegesUnavailable in this record.

What is affected?

The Document Foundation · LibreOfficeversion=6-3 series <6.3.6; version=6-4 series <6.4.3

Published CVSS scores

5.3NISTCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
5.0NISTAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

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

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-312Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information
CWE-311Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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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