CVE-2020-14225
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 · uneditedHCL iNotes is susceptible to a Tabnabbing vulnerability caused by improper sanitization of message content. A remote unauthenticated attacker could use this vulnerability to trick the end user into entering sensitive information such as credentials, e.g. as part of a phishing attack.
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 confidenceHCL iNotes fails to properly sanitize message content, allowing attackers to inject malicious links that perform tabnabbing. When a user clicks a link, it opens a new tab that can silently redirect to a phishing page designed to mimic the original site, tricking users into entering credentials.
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= 10.0.1= 11.0.0< 9.0.1= 9.0.1CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/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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Identify HCL iNotes versionCheck the Domino server version by running 'show server' in Domino Console, or check the iNotes installation directory for version files. Also examine the HTTP response headers when accessing the iNotes web interface (typically at /names.nsf/iNotes/Proxy).Affected if The installed version matches 9.0.1, 10.0.1, or 11.0.0, or is any version below 9.0.1.
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Confirm iNotes web access is enabledAttempt to access the iNotes web portal through a browser. The typical URL pattern is https://servername/names.nsf/iNotes/Proxy or /mail/database.nsf. Verify the login page or mailbox loads successfully.Affected if iNotes web interface is accessible, as this is required for the malicious link injection to be exploitable.
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Inspect HTML source of received messages for link attributesOpen a message in iNotes web view, right-click and view page source, or use browser developer tools to inspect the anchor tags. Search for '<a href=' elements within message content and examine whether the 'rel' attribute is present.Affected if Links in message content lack the rel="noopener noreferrer" attribute, indicating the vulnerability is present in the environment.
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Check for tabnabbing behaviorCreate or receive a test message containing a link to an external site. Click the link and verify if the new tab retains a reference to the original window using 'window.opener' in the opened page's JavaScript context.Affected if The opened link can access the original page through window.opener, confirming the missing noopener protection.
You are affected if your HCL iNotes version is 9.0.1, 10.0.1, 11.0.0, or any version below 9.0.1, and the web interface is active with message links missing proper rel attributes.
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 data9.0.1
Implement output sanitization for all links in message content, adding rel="noopener noreferrer" attributes to prevent tabnabbing, and consider adding Content Security Policy headers to restrict link behavior.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-14225 — 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-2020-14225 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data