CVE-2019-20462
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAn issue was discovered on Alecto IVM-100 2019-11-12 devices. The device comes with a serial interface at the board level. By attaching to this serial interface and rebooting the device, a large amount of information is disclosed. This includes the view password and the password of the Wi-Fi access point that the device used.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe Alecto IVM-100 weather station device has an exposed serial interface at the board level. When an attacker physically attaches to this serial interface and reboots the device, boot logs disclose sensitive credentials including the view password and the Wi-Fi access point password. This is a physical attack requiring direct board-level access.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Physical
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm device modelLocate and identify the weather station device; verify it is an Alecto IVM-100 model by checking the device label or packagingAffected if Device is an Alecto IVM-100 weather station
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Inspect serial interface accessibilityOpen the device casing and visually inspect the circuit board for exposed serial interface pins (typically a 3-6 pin header)Affected if Serial pins are physically accessible and exposed on the board without protective covering or disabling
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Test boot log for credential disclosureConnect a serial adapter (TX/RX/GND) to the exposed serial pins, power on the device, and capture boot logs using terminal software at common baud rates (9600, 57600, 115200)Affected if Boot logs display the view password or Wi-Fi access point password in clear text during device startup
User is affected if they possess an Alecto IVM-100 device with accessible serial pins that disclose credentials in boot logs upon reboot.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataRestrict physical access to the device and disable or protect the serial interface pins; coordinate with vendor for firmware update that suppresses credential disclosure in boot logs.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-20462 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-20462 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data