CVE-2020-29622
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 · uneditedA race condition was addressed with additional validation. This issue is fixed in Security Update 2021-005 Catalina. Mounting a maliciously crafted NFS network share may lead to arbitrary code execution with system privileges.
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 race condition vulnerability in macOS Catalina's NFS (Network File System) implementation allows a remote attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution with system privileges by tricking a user into mounting a maliciously crafted NFS network share.
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>= 10.15, <= 10.15.6= 10.15.7CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/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 installed macOS versionRun 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or go to Apple menu > About This MacAffected if The version is 10.15.7 or falls between 10.15 and 10.15.6 (inclusive)
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Verify if the NFS client is enabledRun 'nfsd status' in Terminal to check if the NFS daemon is running, or check System Preferences > Sharing to see if NFS-related services are activeAffected if NFS client or server functionality is enabled on the system
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Inspect active NFS mountsRun 'showmount -e' or check the output of 'mount' command for NFS-mounted shares, typically listed as type 'nfs'Affected if Any NFS shares are currently mounted from network sources
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Review system logs for recent NFS activityRun 'log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "NFS"' --last 7d' in Terminal to review recent NFS-related log entriesAffected if NFS mount attempts or connections are logged within recent days
The system is potentially affected if it runs macOS Catalina versions 10.15 through 10.15.7 and has NFS client functionality enabled or has mounted NFS shares from network sources.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply Apple Security Update 2021-005 Catalina or later to affected systems, and avoid mounting NFS shares from untrusted or unknown network sources.
Security Update 2021-005 Catalina for macOS 10.15.7
- Back up important data before applying system updates
- Open System Preferences on the Mac
- Navigate to Software Update or Software Preferences
- Check for and install Security Update 2021-005 Catalina
- Restart the Mac if prompted to complete the installation
- Verify the update was installed by checking System Preferences > About > Version (should show 10.15.7 with Security Update 2021-005)
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-29622 — 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-2020-29622 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
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