CVE-2020-35463
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 · uneditedVersion 1.0.0 of the Instana Dynamic APM Docker image contains a blank password for the root user. Systems deployed using affected versions of the Instana Dynamic APM container 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 Instana Dynamic APM Docker image version 1.0.0 ships with a blank (empty) password for the root user. This allows remote attackers to authenticate as root without any credentials, achieving full system compromise.
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= 1.0.0CVSS 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 Instana container and versionRun 'docker ps' and 'docker images' to find any Instana Dynamic APM containers and note their image version tagsAffected if The image version is exactly 1.0.0
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Check if remote access is enabledInspect container configuration for exposed ports (especially SSH port 22) and check if sshd or similar remote access service is running inside the containerAffected if SSH or remote access is enabled and running on the container
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Verify root password is emptyAttempt to SSH or login as root with no password, or inspect /etc/shadow or container authentication configuration files if accessibleAffected if Root user can authenticate with an empty password
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Check authentication configurationExamine /etc/ssh/sshd_config for 'PermitRootLogin' and password authentication settings, or check PAM configuration files inside the containerAffected if Root login with empty password is permitted
You are affected if you are running Instana Dynamic APM Docker image version 1.0.0 with remote access enabled and the root user has a blank password that allows unauthenticated access.
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 dataReplace the affected container with a patched version that has proper authentication configured, or manually set a strong root password if using the vulnerable image version.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-35463 — 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-2020-35463 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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