CVE-2020-7041Public exploit

Traffic interception via accepted hostname-validation errors

Published Feb 27, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Improper certificate validation in openfortivpn 1.11.0 allows man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept VPN client traffic. In tunnel.c, ssl_verify_cert treats every nonzero X509_check_host result as a match, so malformed-name errors mark a hostile certificate valid. Exploitation requires a network position and a CA-signed certificate containing a null byte in its SAN or CommonName, enabling traffic interception.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability1.75%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Improper certificate validation in openfortivpn 1.11.0 allows man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept VPN client traffic. In tunnel.c, ssl_verify_cert treats every nonzero X509_check_host result as a match, so malformed-name errors mark a hostile certificate valid. Exploitation requires a network position and a CA-signed certificate containing a null byte in its SAN or CommonName, enabling traffic interception.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-7041
Published
Feb 27, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-295, T1557
Attack vector
adjacent
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 27, 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 vectoradjacent
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

5.0NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
5.3NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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.

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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)
Vectoradjacent
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-295Improper Certificate Validation
T1557Adversary-in-the-Middle

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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