PicotcpApplication · Capgemini

CVE-2020-27635

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-10
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
In PicoTCP 1.7.0, TCP ISNs are improperly random.

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

In PicoTCP 1.7.0, the TCP Initial Sequence Number (ISN) generation uses insufficient randomness, making ISNs predictable. This allows remote attackers to perform TCP sequence number prediction attacks, potentially enabling session hijacking, connection spoofing, or man-in-the-middle attacks against TCP connections.

MitigationReplace the existing ISN generation mechanism with a cryptographically secure random number generator (CSPRNG) that produces unpredictable sequence numbers. If a patched version of PicoTCP is available, upgrade to that version.

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
PicotcpApplication
Affected:= 1.7.0

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checks

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

  1. Identify if PicoTCP is in use
    Search for PicoTCP library files, check product documentation, or examine software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for 'picotcp' or 'PicoTCP' components
    Affected if PicoTCP library is present in the environment
  2. Determine the installed PicoTCP version
    Check version information via library file metadata, product version strings, or firmware/system inventory that lists the picotcp component version
    Affected if The version is exactly 1.7.0
  3. Verify TCP protocol support is enabled
    Examine the PicoTCP build configuration or runtime settings to confirm TCP networking stack is compiled and active
    Affected if TCP support is enabled and the system accepts TCP connections
  4. Confirm ISN generation uses weak randomness
    Review source code or binary configuration for the ISN generation function (typically in tcp.c or isn.c) to verify it uses a predictable algorithm rather than a cryptographically secure random number generator
    Affected if The ISN generation code uses non-crypto random sources like simple PRNG, time-based values, or counters

The environment is affected if PicoTCP version 1.7.0 is deployed and TCP networking is enabled, allowing attackers to predict sequence numbers for TCP connection hijacking or spoofing.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Replace the existing ISN generation mechanism with a cryptographically secure random number generator (CSPRNG) that produces unpredictable sequence numbers. If a patched version of PicoTCP is available, upgrade to that version.

Fix this in Picotcp Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,800
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-27635 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