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HonoApplication · Eclipse

CVE-2020-27220

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-01-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.4.4 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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 Eclipse Hono AMQP and MQTT protocol adapters do not check whether an authenticated gateway device is authorized to receive command & control messages when it has subscribed only to commands for a specific device. The missing check involves verifying that the command target device is configured giving permission for the gateway device to act on its behalf. This means an authenticated device of a certain tenant, notably also a non-gateway device acting like a gateway, may receive command & control messages targeted at a different device of the same tenant without corresponding permissions getting checked.

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

Eclipse Hono's AMQP and MQTT protocol adapters fail to verify that an authenticated gateway has explicit permission from a target device before forwarding command & control messages to it. When a gateway subscribes to commands for a specific device, the adapters do not check if that target device has authorized the gateway to act on its behalf, allowing any authenticated device within a tenant to intercept commands intended for other devices.

MitigationImplement authorization verification in the AMQP and MQTT protocol adapters to confirm the target device has granted the gateway permission before forwarding command messages, ensuring proper permission validation occurs during the subscription and command routing process.

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
HonoApplication
Affected:>= 1.4.0, <= 1.4.4= 1.5.0

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 Eclipse Hono installation version
    Check the version of your deployed Eclipse Hono instance through container image tags, Helm chart version, pod labels, or application startup logs. Common methods include: 'kubectl get pods -n hono -o jsonpath={.items[*].spec.containers[*].image}' for Kubernetes, or 'docker images' for Docker deployments.
    Affected if The installed version is 1.4.0 through 1.4.4 inclusive, or exactly 1.5.0
  2. Confirm AMQP protocol adapter is deployed and active
    Verify that the AMQP protocol adapter component is running in your environment. Check for AMQP adapter pods, services, or containers in your Eclipse Hono deployment.
    Affected if The AMQP adapter is running and the Hono version falls within the affected range (1.4.0-1.4.4 or 1.5.0)
  3. Confirm MQTT protocol adapter is deployed and active
    Verify that the MQTT protocol adapter component is running in your environment. Check for MQTT adapter pods, services, or containers in your Eclipse Hono deployment.
    Affected if The MQTT adapter is running and the Hono version falls within the affected range (1.4.0-1.4.4 or 1.5.0)
  4. Check gateway command subscription authorization configuration
    Inspect the adapter configuration for authorization policies governing gateway-to-device command routing. Look for configuration settings that control whether gateways require explicit target device authorization before receiving commands. The specific configuration location depends on your deployment method (config maps, properties files, or environment variables).
    Affected if The authorization check for gateway command subscriptions is disabled, missing, or set to permissive mode, and the Hono version is within the affected range

You are affected if your Eclipse Hono version is 1.4.0 through 1.4.4 or exactly 1.5.0, and you use either the AMQP or MQTT protocol adapter with gateway devices that can subscribe to commands for other devices.

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 1.4.4
Interim mitigation

Implement authorization verification in the AMQP and MQTT protocol adapters to confirm the target device has granted the gateway permission before forwarding command messages, ensuring proper permission validation occurs during the subscription and command routing process.

Fix this in Hono Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $15,616.

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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-2020-27220 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
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