CVE-2020-29489
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 · uneditedDell EMC Unity, Unity XT, and UnityVSA versions prior to 5.0.4.0.5.012 contains a plain-text password storage vulnerability. A user credentials (including the Unisphere admin privilege user) password is stored in a plain text in a system file. A local authenticated attacker with access to the system files may use the exposed password to gain access with the privileges of the compromised user.
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 confidenceA plain-text password storage vulnerability exists in Dell EMC Unity, Unity XT, and UnityVSA where user credentials (including the Unisphere admin user) are stored in plain text within a system file. A local authenticated attacker with access to system files can read this file and use the exposed passwords to authenticate with the privileges of the compromised user account.
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< 5.0.4.0.5.012< 5.0.4.0.5.012< 5.0.4.0.5.012CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the Unity product typeDetermine whether the system is Dell EMC Unity, Unity XT, or UnityVSA. This is typically visible in the product name, Unisphere interface, or system management console.Affected if The product is Unity, Unity XT, or UnityVSA and the version is below 5.0.4.0.5.012
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Determine the installed versionAccess Unisphere or the system management interface and locate the version information. On the Unity system, this is usually found under Settings > Support > System Information, or by running the 'version' command via service CLI.Affected if The installed version is any version lower than 5.0.4.0.5.012
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Compare version to the affected rangeCompare your installed version number against the vulnerable range: any version before 5.0.4.0.5.012 is affected.Affected if The version falls below 5.0.4.0.5.012 for any of the three product lines
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Locate the credential storage fileUsing service or administrator access, search for the system file that stores user account credentials. This file is accessible to local authenticated users with file system read permissions.Affected if A file containing user credentials (including the Unisphere admin user) exists on the system and is readable by local authenticated users
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Verify plain-text password storageExamine the contents of the credential storage file identified above. Check whether passwords appear in plain text rather than being hashed or encrypted.Affected if User passwords are stored in plain text within a system file that is readable by local authenticated attackers
You are affected if your Unity, Unity XT, or UnityVSA version is below 5.0.4.0.5.012 and a system file containing plain-text user credentials is present and readable on the system.
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 data5.0.4.0.5.012
Upgrade Dell EMC Unity, Unity XT, and UnityVSA systems to version 5.0.4.0.5.012 or later to remediate the plain-text password storage vulnerability. Restrict local access to system files as an interim compensating control.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-29489 — 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-2020-29489 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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- 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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