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CVE-2020-15707

MEDIUM
Published 2020-07-29T17:45:34.577890Z
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CVSS Score

V3.1
5.7
/10
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
Base Score Metrics
Exploitability: N/A Impact: N/A

EPSS Score

v2025.03.14
0.000
probability
of exploitation in the wild

There is a 0.0% chance that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days.

Updated: 2025-06-25
Exploit Probability
Percentile: 0.081
Higher than 8.1% of all CVEs

Attack Vector Metrics

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Privileges Required
HIGH
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED

Impact Metrics

Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH

Description

Integer overflows were discovered in the functions grub_cmd_initrd and grub_initrd_init in the efilinux component of GRUB2, as shipped in Debian, Red Hat, and Ubuntu (the functionality is not included in GRUB2 upstream), leading to a heap-based buffer overflow. These could be triggered by an extremely large number of arguments to the initrd command on 32-bit architectures, or a crafted filesystem with very large files on any architecture. An attacker could use this to execute arbitrary code and bypass UEFI Secure Boot restrictions. This issue affects GRUB2 version 2.04 and prior versions.

Understanding This Vulnerability

This Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) entry provides detailed information about a security vulnerability that has been publicly disclosed. CVEs are standardized identifiers assigned by MITRE Corporation to track and catalog security vulnerabilities across software and hardware products.

The severity rating (MEDIUM) indicates the potential impact of this vulnerability based on the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) framework. Higher severity ratings typically indicate vulnerabilities that could lead to more significant security breaches if exploited. Security teams should prioritize remediation efforts based on severity, exploit availability, and the EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score, which predicts the likelihood of exploitation in the wild.

If this vulnerability affects products or systems in your infrastructure, we recommend reviewing the affected products section, checking for available patches or updates from vendors, and implementing recommended workarounds or solutions until a permanent fix is available. Organizations should also monitor security advisories and threat intelligence feeds for updates about active exploitation of this vulnerability.

Available Exploits

No exploits available for this CVE.

Related News

No news articles found for this CVE.

Affected Products

References

Credits & Acknowledgments

Colin Watson

Chris Coulson

EU Vulnerability Database

Monitored by ENISA for EU cybersecurity

EU Coordination

Not EU Coordinated

Exploitation Status

No Known Exploitation

ENISA Analysis

Malicious code in bioql (PyPI)

Affected Products (ENISA)

ubuntu
grub2 in ubuntu

ENISA Scoring

CVSS Score (3.1)

5.7
/10
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score

0.040
probability

ENISA References

https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-15707.html
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4735
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:3276
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:3275
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:3274
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:3271
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:3227
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:3223
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:3217
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:3216
https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-15707
https://advisories.mageia.org/CVE-2020-15707.html
https://linux.oracle.com/cve/CVE-2020-15707.html
https://www.eclypsium.com/2020/07/29/theres-a-hole-in-the-boot/
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam/KnowledgeBase/GRUB2SecureBootBypass
http://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-4432-1
https://www.debian.org/security/2020-GRUB-UEFI-SecureBoot
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/ADV200011
https://access.redhat.com/security/vulnerabilities/grub2bootloader
https://www.suse.com/c/suse-addresses-grub2-secure-boot-issue/
https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=000019673
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/07/29/3
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/grub-devel/2020-07/msg00034.html
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/07/29/3
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200731-0008/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4432-1/
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-08/msg00017.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-08/msg00016.html
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202104-05

Data provided by ENISA EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated: October 3, 2025

GitHub Security Advisories

Community-driven vulnerability intelligence from GitHub

⚠ Unreviewed MODERATE

GHSA-mf72-cf87-p3p2

Advisory Details

Integer overflows were discovered in the functions grub_cmd_initrd and grub_initrd_init in the efilinux component of GRUB2, as shipped in Debian, Red Hat, and Ubuntu (the functionality is not included in GRUB2 upstream), leading to a heap-based buffer overflow. These could be triggered by an extremely large number of arguments to the initrd command on 32-bit architectures, or a crafted filesystem with very large files on any architecture. An attacker could use this to execute arbitrary code and bypass UEFI Secure Boot restrictions. This issue affects GRUB2 version 2.04 and prior versions.

CVSS Scoring

CVSS Score

5.0

Advisory provided by GitHub Security Advisory Database. Published: May 24, 2022, Modified: May 24, 2022

References

Published: 2020-07-29T17:45:34.577890Z
Last Modified: 2024-09-17T03:07:49.301Z
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