CVE-2020-12803
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 · uneditedODF documents can contain forms to be filled out by the user. Similar to HTML forms, the contained form data can be submitted to a URI, for example, to an external web server. To create submittable forms, ODF implements the XForms W3C standard, which allows data to be submitted without the need for macros or other active scripting Prior to version 6.4.4 LibreOffice allowed forms to be submitted to any URI, including file: URIs, enabling form submissions to overwrite local files. User-interaction is required to submit the form, but to avoid the possibility of malicious documents engineered to maximize the possibility of inadvertent user submission this feature has now been limited to http[s] URIs, removing the possibility to overwrite local files. This issue affects: The Document Foundation LibreOffice versions prior to 6.4.4.
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 confidenceLibreOffice versions prior to 6.4.4 allowed ODF documents containing XForms to submit form data to arbitrary URIs, including file: URIs. This enabled malicious documents to overwrite local files on the user's system when the user was tricked into submitting a form. The fix restricts form submissions to http[s] URIs only.
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= 31< 6.4.4= 15.1CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/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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Determine installed LibreOffice versionRun ' libreoffice --version ' or check the package manager (e.g., ' rpm -q libreoffice ' on Fedora/RHEL, ' dpkg -l libreoffice ' on Debian)Affected if The version displayed is earlier than 6.4.4 (for example, 6.4.3, 6.4.2, 6.3.x, 6.2.x, etc.)
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Confirm the specific LibreOffice buildIn LibreOffice, go to Help > About LibreOffice to see the full version string including the minor release numberAffected if The build is any version prior to 6.4.4 (such as 6.4.3 or earlier)
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Identify if XForms documents are usedSearch for .odt, .ods, or .odp files that contain XForms by inspecting document structure (unzip the ODF file and look for forms/xforms.xml or similar XForms elements)Affected if You regularly open or process ODF documents containing XForms definitions with form submission actions
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Check document submission configurationsReview any ODF templates or documents that define form submissions - look for 'submission' elements in XForms within the document structureAffected if Documents contain form submissions that could target arbitrary URIs including file: schemes
You are affected if you have LibreOffice version earlier than 6.4.4 AND process ODF documents containing XForms with form submission capabilities.
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 data6.4.4
Upgrade to LibreOffice 6.4.4 or later, which limits form submissions to http[s] URIs and prevents file: URI submissions that could overwrite local files.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-12803 — 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-2020-12803 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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