CVE-2020-11939
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 · uneditedIn nDPI through 3.2 Stable, the SSH protocol dissector has multiple KEXINIT integer overflows that result in a controlled remote heap overflow in concat_hash_string in ssh.c. Due to the granular nature of the overflow primitive and the ability to control both the contents and layout of the nDPI library's heap memory through remote input, this vulnerability may be abused to achieve full Remote Code Execution against any network inspection stack that is linked against nDPI and uses it to perform network traffic analysis.
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 analysisAn arithmetic operation produces a value too large for its type and wraps around to an unexpected — often tiny or negative — number. That miscalculated value then drives a memory allocation or a bounds check, opening the door to corruption. The fix is checked arithmetic and validating sizes before they're used.
General guidance for the integer overflow class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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<= 3.2CVSS 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
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade to nDPI version 3.4 or later stable release (any release after 3.2 that incorporates commit 7ce478a58b4dd29a8d1e6f4e9df2f778613d9202)
- 1. Identify the current nDPI version in use by checking project dependencies or build configuration
- 2. Navigate to the nDPI GitHub repository at https://github.com/ntop/nDPI
- 3. Review the commit 7ce478a58b4dd29a8d1e6f4e9df2f778613d9202 which contains the security fix for the SSH dissector integer overflow
- 4. Update the nDPI dependency or submodule to a version newer than 3.2 that includes the fix (such as version 3.4 or later stable releases)
- 5. Rebuild the project to incorporate the updated nDPI library
- 6. Verify the update was successful by checking the nDPI version at runtime
- 7. Test the SSH protocol dissection functionality to ensure normal operation
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11939 — 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-2020-11939 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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