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CVE-2020-1971

MEDIUM · CVSS 5.9EPSS 7.1%EU EUVD

The X.509 GeneralName type is a generic type for representing different types of names. One of those name types is known as EDIPartyName. OpenSSL provides a function GENERAL_NAME_cmp which compares different instances of a GENERAL_NAME to see if they are equal or not. This function behaves incorrectly when both GENERAL_NAMEs contain an EDIPARTYNAME. A NULL pointer dereference and a crash may occur leading to a possible denial of service attack. OpenSSL itself uses the GENERAL_NAME_cmp function for two purposes: 1) Comparing CRL distribution point names between an available CRL and a CRL distribution point embedded in an X509 certificate 2) When verifying that a timestamp response token signer matches the timestamp authority name (exposed via the API functions TS_RESP_verify_response and TS_RESP_verify_token) If an attacker can control both items being compared then that attacker could trigger a crash. For example if the attacker can trick a client or server into checking a malicious certificate against a malicious CRL then this may occur. Note that some applications automatically download CRLs based on a URL embedded in a certificate. This checking happens prior to the signatures on the certificate and CRL being verified. OpenSSL's s_server, s_client and verify tools have support for the "-crl_download" option which implements automatic CRL downloading and this attack has been demonstrated to work against those tools. Note that an unrelated bug means that affected versions of OpenSSL cannot parse or construct correct encodings of EDIPARTYNAME. However it is possible to construct a malformed EDIPARTYNAME that OpenSSL's parser will accept and hence trigger this attack. All OpenSSL 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 versions are affected by this issue. Other OpenSSL releases are out of support and have not been checked. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1i (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1h). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2x (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2w).

Key facts

CVSS score
5.9 (v3.1)
Severity
MEDIUM
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-476
EPSS score
7.1% (94th percentile)
In CISA KEV
No
In EU EUVD
Yes (EUVD-2020-12761)
Published
December 8, 2020
NVD last modified
June 17, 2026
Status
Modified

EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)

This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2020-12761 in the EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated in EUVD on May 29, 2026.

View on the EU Vulnerability Database

Affected products

  • debian / debian linux
  • debian / debian linux
  • fedoraproject / fedora
  • fedoraproject / fedora
  • netapp / active iq unified manager
  • netapp / active iq unified manager
  • netapp / aff a250
  • netapp / aff a250 firmware
  • netapp / clustered data ontap antivirus connector
  • netapp / data ontap
  • netapp / e-series santricity os controller
  • netapp / ef600a
  • netapp / ef600a firmware
  • netapp / hci compute node
  • netapp / hci management node
  • netapp / hci storage node
  • netapp / manageability software development kit
  • netapp / oncommand insight
  • netapp / oncommand workflow automation
  • netapp / plug-in for symantec netbackup
  • netapp / santricity smi-s provider
  • netapp / snapcenter
  • netapp / solidfire
  • nodejs / node.js
  • nodejs / node.js
  • openssl / openssl
  • oracle / api gateway
  • oracle / business intelligence
  • oracle / business intelligence
  • oracle / business intelligence
  • oracle / business intelligence
  • oracle / communications cloud native core network function cloud native environment
  • oracle / communications diameter intelligence hub
  • oracle / communications session border controller
  • oracle / communications session border controller
  • oracle / communications session border controller
  • oracle / communications session router
  • oracle / communications session router
  • oracle / communications session router
  • oracle / communications subscriber-aware load balancer
  • oracle / communications subscriber-aware load balancer
  • oracle / communications subscriber-aware load balancer
  • oracle / communications unified session manager
  • oracle / enterprise communications broker
  • oracle / enterprise communications broker
  • oracle / enterprise communications broker
  • oracle / enterprise manager base platform
  • oracle / enterprise manager base platform
  • oracle / enterprise manager for storage management
  • oracle / enterprise manager ops center

and 17 more…

Certified products that may be affected

1 FIPS 140 or Common Criteria certified product, from automated matching by sec-certs.org.

References

Last updated September 17, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS

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