CVE-2020-27184
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 · uneditedThe NPort IA5000A Series devices use Telnet as one of the network device management services. Telnet does not support the encryption of client-server communications, making it vulnerable to Man-in-the-Middle attacks.
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 confidenceThe NPort IA5000A Series devices use unencrypted Telnet for network device management, allowing attackers positioned on the network path to intercept sensitive credentials and commands via Man-in-the-Middle attacks due to the lack of communication encryption.
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<= 1.4<= 1.4<= 1.7CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 Moxa NPort IA5000A series devices on the networkLocate devices with model numbers IA5150A, IA5250A, or IA5450A in your asset inventory or network scan resultsAffected if Devices match any of these three model numbers
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Check the installed firmware versionAccess the device web interface or console and navigate to the firmware version information page, or use SNMP/serial to query the device firmware versionAffected if Firmware version is 1.4 or lower for IA5150A/IA5250A, or 1.7 or lower for IA5450A
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Verify if Telnet management is enabledCheck the device network settings for Telnet server status, or attempt a Telnet connection to port 23 of the device from an authorized management stationAffected if Telnet service is listed as enabled or port 23 responds to Telnet connections
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Confirm Telnet is accessible from non-trusted network segmentsReview firewall rules or network access control lists to determine if port 23 is reachable from network segments outside the trusted management VLANAffected if Telnet port 23 is reachable from network segments outside the trusted administrative network
A user is affected if they have any IA5150A, IA5250A, or IA5450A devices with vulnerable firmware versions that have Telnet management enabled and accessible from their network.
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 dataDisable Telnet management access on affected devices and migrate to encrypted protocols such as SSH for device administration, or place Telnet behind an encrypted VPN tunnel if legacy Telnet access is absolutely required.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-27184 — 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-2020-27184 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data