CVE-2020-16226
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 · uneditedMultiple Mitsubishi Electric products are vulnerable to impersonations of a legitimate device by a malicious actor, which may allow an attacker to remotely execute arbitrary commands.
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 confidenceMitsubishi Electric industrial products contain an authentication bypass vulnerability allowing malicious actors to impersonate legitimate devices. Successful exploitation enables remote arbitrary command execution on affected PLCs and industrial controllers, posing critical risk to operational technology environments.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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 the PLC or controller modelAccess the device programming software (GX Works2/3) or check the physical device label to determine the exact model number (e.g., Qj71mes96, Q24dhccpu V, Rd55up12 V)Affected if The model matches any of the affected products: Qj71mes96, Qj71ws96, Q06ccpu V, Q24dhccpu V, Q24dhccpu Vg, R12ccpu V, Rd55up06 V, or Rd55up12 V
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Verify firmware versionConnect to the device via GX Works2/3 and navigate to the CPU module diagnostics or use the device's built-in web interface (if available) to read the firmware versionAffected if The device is one of the affected models regardless of version (all versions are impacted)
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Check network accessibilityDetermine if the affected PLC or controller is directly reachable on the network by pinging the device IP or reviewing network scans. Verify if the MELSOFT communication ports (TCP 5000-5007, UDP 5000-5007) are exposedAffected if The affected device is accessible from network segments outside of the isolated OT environment
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Review authentication configurationCheck if the device has authentication/encryption enabled for MELSOFT communications. In GX Works2/3, go to the connection settings and verify if 'Password' or 'Authentication' is configured for the target CPUAffected if Authentication is not enforced or is disabled on the affected device, allowing unauthenticated communication attempts
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Inspect for signs of device impersonationMonitor network traffic for unusual MELSOFT protocol packets, check for duplicate MAC addresses on the industrial network, or review PLC program change logs for unauthorized modificationsAffected if Unexpected devices are responding to MELSOFT queries or unauthorized program changes are detected in the PLC history logs
You are affected if you have any of the listed Mitsubishi Electric PLC models (Qj71mes96, Qj71ws96, Q06ccpu V, Q24dhccpu V, Q24dhccpu Vg, R12ccpu V, Rd55up06 V, Rd55up12 V) accessible on your network, regardless of firmware version.
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 dataApply vendor-supplied firmware updates to all affected Mitsubishi Electric products; implement network segmentation and strict access controls to limit attack surface; monitor for suspicious device impersonation attempts on industrial networks.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,352.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-16226 — 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-2020-16226 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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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.
- 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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