Document ServerApplication · Onlyoffice

CVE-2020-11536

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
An issue was discovered in ONLYOFFICE Document Server 5.5.0. An attacker can craft a malicious .docx file, and exploit the unzip function to rewrite a binary and remotely execute code on a victim's server.

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

ONLYOFFICE Document Server 5.5.0 contains a Zip Slip-type vulnerability in its .docx file processing (unzip) function. By crafting a malicious .docx file with path traversal sequences in filenames, an attacker can write arbitrary files to the server's filesystem, overwriting binaries and achieving remote code execution.

MitigationUpgrade ONLYOFFICE Document Server to a version beyond 5.5.0 that includes the security patch. Implement strict input validation and secure archive extraction with allowlist-based path checking before file extraction.

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
Document ServerApplication
Affected:= 5.5.0

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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. Verify ONLYOFFICE Document Server is installed
    Check for the presence of ONLYOFFICE Document Server components on the system. Look for onlyoffice-related processes, services, or installation directories.
    Affected if ONLYOFFICE Document Server is present on the system
  2. Determine the installed version
    Use the appropriate method to query the installed ONLYOFFICE Document Server version (e.g., package manager, installed software list, or version command if available). Compare the result to the affected version 5.5.0.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 5.5.0
  3. Confirm document processing is enabled
    Verify that the ONLYOFFICE Document Server document processing service is active and accessible. Check if .docx file upload and conversion features are enabled in the configuration.
    Affected if The document processing service is running and .docx processing is available to users
  4. Check for unauthorized file access indicators
    Review server filesystem logs and audit trails for any unexpected file writes in directories outside the expected document storage area, particularly in system directories or application binary locations.

A system is affected only if ONLYOFFICE Document Server version 5.5.0 is installed and the document processing service is actively processing .docx files.

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

Upgrade ONLYOFFICE Document Server to a version beyond 5.5.0 that includes the security patch. Implement strict input validation and secure archive extraction with allowlist-based path checking before file extraction.

Fix this in Document Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,880
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11536 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-11536 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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