Nport Iaw5000a I\/o FirmwareOperating system · Moxa

CVE-2020-25196

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-12-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.1 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
The built-in WEB server for MOXA NPort IAW5000A-I/O firmware version 2.1 or lower allows SSH/Telnet sessions, which may be vulnerable to brute force attacks to bypass authentication.

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

The MOXA NPort IAW5000A-I/O device with firmware version 2.1 or lower has a built-in WEB server that exposes SSH and Telnet services. These services are vulnerable to brute force attacks that can bypass authentication, allowing unauthenticated attackers to gain administrative access to the device.

MitigationUpgrade the firmware to a version higher than 2.1 when available. Additionally, implement strong account lockout policies, rate limiting on authentication endpoints, network segmentation to restrict access to management interfaces, and disable Telnet in favor of SSH with key-based authentication.

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
Nport Iaw5000a I\/o FirmwareOperating system
Affected:<= 2.1

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
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. Identify the device model
    Access the device web interface or check the device label/menu to confirm the model is NPort IAW5000A-I/O
    Affected if The device is not a Moxa NPort IAW5000A-I/O model, then this CVE does not apply
  2. Check the firmware version
    Log into the device web interface and navigate to System Settings or Device Information to view the firmware version; compare it to the affected range <= 2.1
    Affected if Firmware version is 2.1 or lower, placing the device in the affected version range
  3. Verify if SSH service is enabled
    In the device web interface, go to Network Settings or Services configuration and check if the SSH service is enabled
    Affected if SSH service is enabled and accessible on the network, the device is vulnerable to brute force attacks via SSH
  4. Verify if Telnet service is enabled
    In the device web interface, go to Network Settings or Services configuration and check if the Telnet service is enabled
    Affected if Telnet service is enabled and accessible on the network, the device is vulnerable to brute force attacks via Telnet
  5. Confirm network accessibility of services
    Perform a port scan (e.g., nmap) against the device IP on ports 22 (SSH) and 23 (Telnet) to determine if these services are exposed on the network
    Affected if Either SSH (port 22) or Telnet (port 23) ports are open and reachable, the device is network-accessible for brute force attacks

You are affected if you have a Moxa NPort IAW5000A-I/O device running firmware version 2.1 or lower with SSH or Telnet services enabled and accessible on the network.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade the firmware to a version higher than 2.1 when available. Additionally, implement strong account lockout policies, rate limiting on authentication endpoints, network segmentation to restrict access to management interfaces, and disable Telnet in favor of SSH with key-based authentication.

Fix this in Nport Iaw5000a I\/o Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,970
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2020-25196 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