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Surveillance StationApplication · Qnap

CVE-2020-2501

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-02-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.1.5.3.3 / 5.1.5.4.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability has been reported to affect QNAP NAS devices running Surveillance Station. If exploited, this vulnerability allows attackers to execute arbitrary code. QNAP have already fixed this vulnerability in the following versions: Surveillance Station 5.1.5.4.3 (and later) for ARM CPU NAS (64bit OS) and x86 CPU NAS (64bit OS) Surveillance Station 5.1.5.3.3 (and later) for ARM CPU NAS (32bit OS) and x86 CPU NAS (32bit OS)

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 confidence

A stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability in QNAP Surveillance Station allows attackers to overflow a stack-allocated buffer and overwrite return addresses or adjacent stack variables, enabling arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability stems from insufficient bounds checking on input processed by the Surveillance Station service.

MitigationUpdate Surveillance Station to version 5.1.5.4.3 or later for 64-bit NAS systems, or version 5.1.5.3.3 or later for 32-bit systems. Verify the CPU architecture of the device before applying the update.

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
Surveillance StationApplication
Affected:< 5.1.5.3.3>= 5.1.5.4.0, < 5.1.5.4.3

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
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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Surveillance Station is installed
    Log into QNAP NAS admin interface and navigate to App Center, or run 'qpkg -i | grep -i surveillance' via SSH to check if Surveillance Station is installed.
    Affected if Surveillance Station is not installed on the system
  2. Identify installed Surveillance Station version
    In QNAP admin interface, go to App Center > Surveillance Station > click the version number, or run 'qpkg -i | grep -i surveillance' to retrieve the version string.
    Affected if Version number cannot be determined or is not visible
  3. Determine NAS CPU architecture
    Via SSH, run 'uname -m' or check the NAS model specifications. 32-bit systems typically have 'x86' or 'i386' in the model; 64-bit systems show 'x86_64' or 'aarch64'.
    Affected if CPU architecture cannot be determined (needed to know which version threshold applies)
  4. Compare version against affected ranges
    For 32-bit systems: check if version < 5.1.5.3.3. For 64-bit systems: check if version >= 5.1.5.4.0 AND < 5.1.5.4.3. Review the exact version retrieved in step 2 against these ranges.
    Affected if Version falls into any affected range: < 5.1.5.3.3 for 32-bit, or >= 5.1.5.4.0 and < 5.1.5.4.3 for 64-bit

The system is affected if QNAP Surveillance Station is installed AND the version falls into the vulnerable ranges (< 5.1.5.3.3 for 32-bit, or 5.1.5.4.0-5.1.5.4.2 for 64-bit).

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.1.5.3.3 / 5.1.5.4.3 or later
Fixed in 5.1.5.3.35.1.5.4.3
Interim mitigation

Update Surveillance Station to version 5.1.5.4.3 or later for 64-bit NAS systems, or version 5.1.5.3.3 or later for 32-bit systems. Verify the CPU architecture of the device before applying the update.

Recommended fix High confidence

Surveillance Station 5.1.5.4.3 (64-bit) or 5.1.5.3.3 (32-bit)

  1. 1. Identify your QNAP NAS CPU architecture (ARM 32-bit, ARM 64-bit, x86 32-bit, or x86 64-bit) from the QNAP product specifications.
  2. 2. Check the current version of Surveillance Station installed on your NAS.
  3. 3. If running a version before 5.1.5.3.3, or between 5.1.5.4.0 and 5.1.5.4.2, access the QNAP App Center and update Surveillance Station.
  4. 4. For ARM 64-bit and x86 64-bit NAS: upgrade to Surveillance Station 5.1.5.4.3 or later.
  5. 5. For ARM 32-bit and x86 32-bit NAS: upgrade to Surveillance Station 5.1.5.3.3 or later.
  6. 6. Verify the updated version after installation completes.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Surveillance Station Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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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-2020-2501 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data