CVE-2020-36283
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 · uneditedHID OMNIKEY 5427 and OMNIKEY 5127 readers are vulnerable to CSRF when using the EEM driver (Ethernet Emulation Mode). By persuading an authenticated user to visit a malicious Web site, a remote attacker could send a malformed HTTP request to upload a configuration file to the device. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to perform cross-site scripting attacks, Web cache poisoning, and other malicious activities.
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 · moderate confidenceThe HID OMNIKEY 5427 and OMNIKEY 5127 card readers contain a CSRF vulnerability in their EEM (Ethernet Emulation Mode) driver. An attacker can exploit this by tricking an authenticated user into visiting a malicious website, which sends malformed HTTP requests to upload malicious configuration files to the device, potentially enabling XSS and web cache poisoning attacks.
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 dataall versionsall versionsCVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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 deployed card reader modelsInventory your hardware to determine if you have HID Global OMNIKEY 5427 or OMNIKEY 5127 card readers in your environment. Check physical device labels or consult your asset management system.Affected if You have OMNIKEY 5427 or OMNIKEY 5127 devices deployed.
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Verify EEM mode statusAccess the device web management interface and navigate to the EEM (Ethernet Emulation Mode) configuration settings. Check whether EEM mode is currently enabled on the device.Affected if EEM mode is enabled on your device.
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Assess network exposure of device interfaceDetermine if the device management web interface is reachable from network segments accessible to untrusted users. Check firewall rules, VLAN configurations, and access control lists surrounding the device IP address.Affected if The device management interface is accessible from untrusted networks.
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Confirm authentication session securityReview whether the device web interface uses anti-CSRF tokens or unique request identifiers during administrative operations. Examine session handling during configuration changes.Affected if The device lacks anti-CSRF protections in its administrative interface.
You are affected if you have OMNIKEY 5427 or 5127 devices with EEM mode enabled, regardless of firmware version since all versions are vulnerable.
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 dataOrganizations should either disable EEM mode if not required, apply any available vendor firmware patches, implement anti-CSRF tokens in the device management interface, and restrict network access to device administration interfaces.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-36283 — 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-2020-36283 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