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Fabric Operating SystemOperating system · Broadcom

CVE-2020-15386

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Brocade Fabric OS prior to v9.0.1a and 8.2.3a and after v9.0.0 and 8.2.2d may observe high CPU load during security scanning, which could lead to a slower response to CLI commands and other operations.

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 confidence

In Brocade Fabric OS versions between 8.2.2d/9.0.0 and 8.2.3a/9.0.1a, security scanning operations cause excessive CPU consumption, resulting in degraded system performance and delayed CLI command execution. This is a denial-of-service condition triggered by the scanning process itself.

MitigationUpgrade Brocade Fabric OS to version 9.0.1a or 8.2.3a or later, which contain the fix for this CPU exhaustion issue.

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
Fabric Operating SystemOperating system
Affected:= 8.2.3= 9.0.0a= 9.0.0b= 9.0.1

CVSS 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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Fabric OS version
    Run the command 'version' or 'firmwareShow' in the Fabric OS CLI to retrieve the installed firmware version
    Affected if The version displayed is 8.2.3, 9.0.0a, 9.0.0b, or 9.0.1 (or any version between 8.2.2d/9.0.0 and the fixed releases 8.2.3a/9.0.1a)
  2. Confirm scanning capability is in use
    Determine if security scanning features such as port scanning, zone scanning, or similar security audit functions are configured or have been executed on the fabric
    Affected if Security scanning operations are performed on the Fabric OS device
  3. Verify CPU behavior during scanning
    Observe CPU utilization using 'top' or 'sysmon' commands while a security scan is running; compare baseline CPU usage to usage during scan execution
    Affected if CPU consumption spikes significantly or command execution becomes delayed during security scanning operations

You are affected if your Fabric OS version falls within 8.2.3, 9.0.0a, 9.0.0b, or 9.0.1 and you utilize security scanning features that trigger excessive CPU consumption.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Brocade Fabric OS to version 9.0.1a or 8.2.3a or later, which contain the fix for this CPU exhaustion issue.

Fix this in Fabric Operating System Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-15386 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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