CVE-2020-11852
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 · uneditedDKIM key management page vulnerability on Micro Focus Secure Messaging Gateway (SMG). Affecting all SMG Appliance running releases prior to July 2020. The vulnerability could allow a logged in user with rights to generate DKIM key information to inject system commands into the call to the DKIM system command.
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 confidenceAuthenticated command injection vulnerability in the DKIM key management page of Micro Focus Secure Messaging Gateway. A logged-in user with privileges to generate DKIM key information can inject arbitrary system commands into the DKIM system command call.
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< 2020-07-01CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed productVerify the system is running Micro Focus Secure Messaging Gateway. Check system information, installed packages, or the product's admin console for the product name.Affected if The product is not Micro Focus Secure Messaging Gateway, then this CVE does not apply.
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Determine the SMG versionAccess the product admin console or check system documentation to find the installed version or build date. Compare to the affected range of versions released before July 2020.Affected if The installed version was released before 2020-07-01 or the version string indicates a build date prior to July 2020.
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Verify DKIM functionality is accessibleConfirm that the DKIM key management feature is enabled and accessible within the Secure Messaging Gateway administrative interface. Check if users with DKIM privileges exist in the system.Affected if The DKIM key management functionality is present and accessible to authenticated users.
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Check web interface exposureDetermine if the SMG administrative web interface is network-accessible (internally or externally). The vulnerability requires an authenticated session.Affected if The administrative interface is accessible and accepts authentication credentials.
A system is affected if it runs Micro Focus Secure Messaging Gateway with a version released before July 2020 and has the DKIM key management feature accessible to authenticated users.
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 data2020-07-01
Upgrade SMG Appliance to a release from July 2020 or later, or apply vendor-provided patches to address the command injection vector in the DKIM key management functionality.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11852 — 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-2020-11852 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
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