CVE-2020-14713
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 · uneditedVulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). Supported versions that are affected are Prior to 5.2.44, prior to 6.0.24 and prior to 6.1.12. Difficult to exploit vulnerability allows high privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox executes to compromise Oracle VM VirtualBox. While the vulnerability is in Oracle VM VirtualBox, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.5 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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 confidenceCVE-2020-14713 is a vulnerability in the Core component of Oracle VM VirtualBox affecting versions prior to 5.2.44, 6.0.24, and 6.1.12. It is a difficult-to-exploit local privilege escalation vulnerability requiring a high-privileged attacker with logon access to the infrastructure where VirtualBox executes. Successful exploitation grants complete takeover of the VirtualBox environment.
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< 5.2.44>= 6.0.0, < 6.0.24>= 6.1.0, < 6.1.12= 15.1= 15.2CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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 VirtualBox installationRun 'VBoxManage --version' on the host system to retrieve the installed VirtualBox version numberAffected if The version output is lower than 5.2.44, or falls between 6.0.0 and 6.0.23 inclusive, or falls between 6.1.0 and 6.1.11 inclusive
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Check VirtualBox package version via system package managerOn Linux hosts, use 'rpm -qa | grep -i virtualbox' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i virtualbox' to list installed VirtualBox packages and their versionsAffected if The displayed package version matches the vulnerable version ranges described above
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Verify VirtualBox core components are in useConfirm VirtualBox is actively installed and the VBoxSVC service or VBoxDrv kernel module is present by running 'VBoxManage list systemproperties' or checking for VBox processes with 'ps aux | grep -i vbox'Affected if VirtualBox is running and its version falls within the affected ranges from step 1
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Confirm host operating systemCheck the host OS version with 'cat /etc/os-release' on Linux or 'systeminfo' on Windows to identify if the host is OpenSUSE Leap 15.1 or 15.2Affected if The host runs OpenSUSE Leap 15.1 or 15.2 with a vulnerable VirtualBox version installed
A system is affected if VirtualBox version is less than 5.2.44, between 6.0.0-6.0.23, or between 6.1.0-6.1.11, or if running on OpenSUSE Leap 15.1/15.2 with those vulnerable versions.
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 data5.2.446.0.246.1.12
Upgrade Oracle VM VirtualBox to version 5.2.44, 6.0.24, 6.1.12 or later. Schedule maintenance windows to update all affected VirtualBox hosts and verify virtual machine functionality post-update.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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-2020-14713 — 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-2020-14713 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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