CVE-2020-35189
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 · uneditedThe official kong docker images before 1.0.2-alpine (Alpine specific) contain a blank password for a root user. System using the kong docker container deployed by affected versions of the docker image may allow a remote attacker to achieve root access with a blank password.
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 confidenceThe official Kong Docker Alpine images before version 1.0.2-alpine contained a root account with a blank password. This allowed remote unauthenticated attackers to gain root access to the container by connecting to the exposed service and authenticating as root with no password.
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< 1.0.2CVSS 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
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 Kong Alpine Docker image in useRun 'docker images' or 'docker ps' and look for any image or container with 'kong' and 'alpine' in the name or descriptionAffected if A Kong Alpine-based Docker image or container is present
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Check the Alpine image version tagRun 'docker images' and examine the VERSION or TAG column for the Kong Alpine image; compare it against the affected range (versions before 1.0.2)Affected if The image tag shows a version lower than 1.0.2 (for example, 1.0.1-alpine, 1.0.0-alpine, or similar)
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 · scoped1.0.2
Upgrade to Kong Docker image version 1.0.2-alpine or later to remediate the blank root password. Verify no other Alpine-based Kong images in use are on older versions.
kong:1.0.2-alpine (or later stable version)
- Pull the fixed Kong Alpine Docker Image version: docker pull kong:1.0.2-alpine (or a later stable version)
- Update your Kubernetes deployment, Docker Compose file, or container run command to reference the fixed image tag (1.0.2-alpine or later)
- Verify the new image is running correctly in your environment
- Test that the Kong gateway is functioning as expected with the new image
- Ensure any automated CI/CD pipelines that pull the Kong Alpine image are updated to use the fixed version tag
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-35189 — 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-2020-35189 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data