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ConsulApplication · Hashicorp

CVE-2020-25201

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-11-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.8.4 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
HashiCorp Consul Enterprise version 1.7.0 up to 1.8.4 includes a namespace replication bug which can be triggered to cause denial of service via infinite Raft writes. Fixed in 1.7.9 and 1.8.5.

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

HashiCorp Consul Enterprise versions 1.7.0 through 1.8.4 contain a namespace replication bug that can be triggered to cause denial of service via infinite Raft writes, potentially consuming cluster resources until failure.

MitigationUpgrade Consul Enterprise to version 1.7.9 or 1.8.5 or later to remediate the namespace replication vulnerability.

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
ConsulApplication
Affected:>= 1.7.0, <= 1.8.4

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
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check Consul version
    Run `consul --version` or query the API: `curl http://localhost:8500/v1/agent/self` and look for the "Version" field in the response
    Affected if The version is >= 1.7.0 and <= 1.8.4
  2. Confirm Consul Enterprise edition
    Examine the version output or agent self API response for "ent" or "enterprise" designation in the version string
    Affected if The edition shows "ent" or "enterprise" (this CVE affects Enterprise only)
  3. Verify namespace replication is configured
    Query the Consul API at `http://localhost:8500/v1/operator/replication` or check for `enable_namespace_replication` in Consul configuration files
    Affected if Namespace replication is enabled (the bug triggers via namespace replication)
  4. Check for excessive Raft log activity
    Monitor `consul operator raft list-peers` and observe for rapidly growing raft index numbers, or check disk I/O and storage for abnormally high write activity
    Affected if Raft index is increasing unusually fast or cluster is experiencing high write throughput without corresponding workload

You are affected if running Consul Enterprise version 1.7.0 through 1.8.4 with namespace replication enabled and observing abnormal Raft write activity.

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 1.8.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Consul Enterprise to version 1.7.9 or 1.8.5 or later to remediate the namespace replication vulnerability.

Fix this in Consul Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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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-2020-25201 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