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Cloudforms Management EngineApplication · Redhat

CVE-2020-10780

MEDIUM · 6.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-08-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
67/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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 · unedited
Red Hat CloudForms 4.7 and 5 is affected by CSV Injection flaw, a crafted payload stays dormant till a victim export as CSV and opens the file with Excel. Once the victim opens the file, the formula executes, triggering any number of possible events. While this is strictly not an flaw that affects the application directly, attackers could use the loosely validated parameters to trigger several attack possibilities.

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 · moderate confidence

CSV Injection vulnerability in Red Hat CloudForms 4.7 and 5 where attackers inject malicious formulas (starting with =, +, -, @, etc.) into loosely validated input parameters. These payloads persist in the database and execute when a victim exports data as CSV and opens the file in Excel, leading to potential data exfiltration or further attacks via formula-based actions.

MitigationImplement input validation to sanitize or escape formula-injection characters (=, +, -, @, tab, CR) in all fields that may be exported to CSV, and consider adding warning banners in exported files or using proper CSV escaping (prefixing dangerous characters with a single quote).

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Cloudforms Management EngineApplication
Affected:= 4.7= 5.0

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed CloudForms version
    Check the CloudForms Management Engine version through the UI (Help > About) or via the appliance console command: appliance_console --print-fields or check /var/www/miq/vmdb/VERSION file
    Affected if The installed version is 4.7 or 5.0 exactly (note: the affected versions are exact matches per the CVE)
  2. Identify input fields that persist to database and can be exported to CSV
    Review application configuration and database schema to determine which user-inputted fields are stored long-term and have CSV export functionality - check tables related to reports, policies, services, or any user-defined data that supports export
    Affected if User-controllable input fields are stored in the database without sanitization of formula characters (=, +, -, @, tab, CR)
  3. Scan database for existing formula injection payloads
    Query database tables where exported data originates, searching for fields containing values that start with formula characters: SELECT * FROM <table> WHERE <column> LIKE '=%' OR <column> LIKE '=%' OR <column> LIKE '-%' OR <column> LIKE '+%' OR <column> LIKE '@%'
    Affected if Any records exist in the database containing fields that start with =, +, -, @, tab, or CR characters
  4. Verify CSV export escaping behavior
    Export sample data from CloudForms to CSV format (via reports or data export features) and inspect the raw CSV file content to check if leading formula characters are properly escaped (should be prefixed with single quote or otherwise neutralized)
    Affected if The exported CSV file contains unescaped formula characters (=, +, -, @) in cell values without warning banners or proper escaping

You are affected if your CloudForms version is 4.7 or 5.0 AND your database contains stored values starting with formula characters (=, +, -, @, tab, CR) that get exported to unescaped CSV format.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement input validation to sanitize or escape formula-injection characters (=, +, -, @, tab, CR) in all fields that may be exported to CSV, and consider adding warning banners in exported files or using proper CSV escaping (prefixing dangerous characters with a single quote).

Fix this in Cloudforms Management Engine Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,980
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-10780 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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