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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2020-35357

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-22
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Patch available

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
A buffer overflow can occur when calculating the quantile value using the Statistics Library of GSL (GNU Scientific Library), versions 2.5 and 2.6. Processing a maliciously crafted input data for gsl_stats_quantile_from_sorted_data of the library may lead to unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-120

A fixed-size buffer is filled without checking the length of the incoming data, so it overflows into neighbouring memory. This is the classic overflow attackers use to overwrite return addresses and hijack execution. The fix is strict length checks and safe, bounded string and memory functions.

General guidance for the classic buffer overflow class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0
Gnu Scientific LibraryApplication
Affected:= 2.5= 2.6

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

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 · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch git.savannah.gnu.org →
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

GSL 2.7 or later (Debian 10 backports may also contain the fixed package - check Debian security advisories)

  1. 1. Identify the current GSL version installed by running: dpkg -l | grep libgsl or gsl-config --version
  2. 2. For Debian 10 (Buster) users: Update package lists with: sudo apt-get update
  3. 3. Upgrade GSL to the fixed version by running: sudo apt-get install libgsl-dev or libgsl23 (depending on your package need)
  4. 4. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the new version: gsl-config --version
  5. 5. Rebuild any applications that link against GSL to ensure they use the updated library
  6. 6. Test that applications using gsl_stats_quantile_from_sorted_data function work correctly with the updated library
Caveat Minor - this is a bugfix release; however, recompilation of dependent applications is required to use the fixed library

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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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-2020-35357 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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