CVE-2020-14892
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). The supported version that is affected is Prior to 6.1.16. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox executes to compromise Oracle VM VirtualBox. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in unauthorized ability to cause a hang or frequently repeatable crash (complete DOS) of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 5.5 (Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 confidenceA denial-of-service vulnerability exists in the Oracle VM VirtualBox Core component affecting versions prior to 6.1.16. The flaw allows a low-privileged attacker with local logon access to the VirtualBox host infrastructure to cause the VirtualBox application to hang or crash repeatedly. Exploitation is considered easy and does not require user interaction.
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< 6.1.16CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Check if VirtualBox is installedOn Windows, check Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Oracle\VirtualBox or look in C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox. On Linux, run 'dpkg -l | grep virtualbox' or 'rpm -qa | grep virtualbox'. On macOS, check /Applications for VirtualBox.app.Affected if VirtualBox is not installed on the system
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Determine the installed VirtualBox versionOn Windows, run 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe --version' or check the registry version value. On Linux, run 'VBoxManage --version'. On macOS, right-click VirtualBox.app and select Get Info to see the version.Affected if Unable to retrieve version information - VirtualBox may not be present or VBoxManage may not be in PATH
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Compare version to vulnerability thresholdParse the version number returned. The affected range is any version prior to 6.1.16 (e.g., 6.1.14, 6.1.0, 6.0.14, 5.2.x). Compare using semantic versioning: any major.minor.patch combination where the version is less than 6.1.16.Affected if Installed version is below 6.1.16 (e.g., 6.1.14, 6.0.14, 5.2.44)
If VirtualBox is installed and the version is lower than 6.1.16, the system is vulnerable to this denial-of-service flaw.
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 data6.1.16
Upgrade Oracle VM VirtualBox to version 6.1.16 or later. As a local attack vector, ensure proper access controls limit who can logon to the VirtualBox host system.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-14892 — 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-2020-14892 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
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