dbcve.org
Sd Wan OrchestratorApplication · VMware

CVE-2020-3985

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-11-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.4.4 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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
The SD-WAN Orchestrator 3.3.2 prior to 3.3.2 P3 and 3.4.x prior to 3.4.4 allows an access to set arbitrary authorization levels leading to a privilege escalation issue. An authenticated SD-WAN Orchestrator user may exploit an application weakness and call a vulnerable API to elevate their 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 confidence

This is a privilege escalation vulnerability in VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator where an authenticated user can exploit a weak API to set arbitrary authorization levels, allowing them to elevate their privileges beyond what their account should normally permit.

MitigationUpgrade SD-WAN Orchestrator to version 3.3.2 P3 or 3.4.4 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

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
Sd Wan OrchestratorApplication
Affected:>= 3.4.0, < 3.4.4= 3.3.2

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm product and version
    Locate the installed VMware SD-WAN Orchestrator version through the admin web interface (typically in System settings or About section) or by querying the system directly
    Affected if Running version 3.3.2 or any version from 3.4.0 through 3.4.3
  2. Compare against affected ranges
    Verify the exact version number against the vulnerable ranges: 3.3.2 (exact) and 3.4.0 <= version < 3.4.4
    Affected if Installed version matches 3.3.2 or is 3.4.0, 3.4.1, 3.4.2, or 3.4.3
  3. Confirm API exposure
    Determine if the SD-WAN Orchestrator REST API endpoint is network-accessible to authenticated users
    Affected if The API is reachable and accepts authenticated user requests

Environment is affected if SD-WAN Orchestrator version is 3.3.2 or falls between 3.4.0 and 3.4.3 inclusive, and the API is accessible to authenticated users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.4.4 or later
Fixed in 3.4.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade SD-WAN Orchestrator to version 3.3.2 P3 or 3.4.4 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

Fix this in Sd Wan Orchestrator Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,656.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3985 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2020-3985 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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