CVE-2020-8448Public exploit

Local service crash via malformed location parsing

Published Jan 30, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

NULL pointer dereference in OSSEC-HIDS 2.7 through 3.5.0 allows local users to crash ossec-analysisd via a crafted UNIX-socket message. In OS_CleanMSG, a missing -> delimiter makes strstr return NULL, and strchr dereferences that result while parsing the message location. The attacker needs local write access to the analysisd socket; successful exploitation terminates the analysis process and interrupts log analysis.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.49%
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 OSSEC-HIDS 2.7 through 3.5.0 allows local users to crash ossec-analysisd via a crafted UNIX-socket message. In OS_CleanMSG, a missing -> delimiter makes strstr return NULL, and strchr dereferences that result while parsing the message location. The attacker needs local write access to the analysisd socket; successful exploitation terminates the analysis process and interrupts log analysis.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-8448
Published
Jan 30, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-476, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 30, 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

2.1NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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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