CVE-2020-2927
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 · uneditedVulnerability in the Oracle Solaris product of Oracle Systems (component: Common Desktop Environment). Supported versions that are affected are 10 and 11. Difficult to exploit vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle Solaris executes to compromise Oracle Solaris. While the vulnerability is in Oracle Solaris, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle Solaris. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 7.8 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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 confidenceLocal privilege escalation vulnerability in Oracle Solaris Common Desktop Environment (CDE) affecting versions 10 and 11. Allows low-privileged attackers with local system access to execute arbitrary code and potentially gain root-level takeover of the Solaris system. The changed scope indicates attacks may impact additional products beyond the vulnerable CDE component.
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= 10= 11CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify if the system is running Oracle SolarisRun 'uname -a' or 'cat /etc/release' to confirm the operating system is Oracle SolarisAffected if The OS is not Oracle Solaris (this CVE only affects Oracle Solaris)
-
Determine the exact Oracle Solaris versionRun 'uname -r' or check '/etc/release' for the full version string (e.g., Oracle Solaris 10 1/13 or Oracle Solaris 11.x)Affected if The installed version is Oracle Solaris 10 or Oracle Solaris 11 (any patch level within these major versions)
-
Verify if CDE (Common Desktop Environment) is installedCheck for the presence of CDE directories such as /usr/dt or run 'pkginfo -l | grep -i dt' to list installed CDE packagesAffected if CDE packages are installed on the system
-
Confirm if CDE services are running or enabledRun 'svcs -a | grep dt' (Solaris 11) or check /etc/rc*.d for dtlogin scripts (Solaris 10) to see if CDE login services are activeAffected if The dtlogin or other CDE services are enabled and running on the system
A system is affected if it runs Oracle Solaris 10 or 11 with CDE installed and enabled, allowing a low-privileged local user to potentially escalate privileges to root.
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 dataApply Oracle Critical Patch Update or upgrade to patched Oracle Solaris versions. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict physical and logical access to Solaris systems and consider disabling CDE if not required for operations.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,928.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-2927 — 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-2020-2927 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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