CVE-2020-4102
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 · uneditedHCL Notes is susceptible to a Buffer Overflow vulnerability in DXL due to improper validation of user input. A successful exploit could enable an attacker to crash Notes or execute attacker-controlled code on the client system.
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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in HCL Notes' DXL (Domino XML) import functionality due to improper validation of user input. A successful exploit allows an attacker to crash the Notes client or achieve arbitrary code execution on the affected client system.
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>= 9.0.0, <= 9.0.1= 10.0= 10.0.1= 11.0= 11.0.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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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Check installed HCL Notes versionOpen the Notes client and go to Help > About HCL Notes, or run 'notes -version' from command line, or check the Windows Registry at HKLM\Software\HCL\Notes\VersionAffected if The installed version is 9.0.0, 9.0.1, 10.0, 10.0.1, 11.0, or 11.0.1
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Verify DXL import capability is presentConfirm the DXL import feature is available in the Notes client. This can be verified by checking if the DXL importer is installed as part of the Notes client installation, typically found in the Notes\dxl directory or accessible via the Notes Designer client import functionsAffected if The DXL import functionality exists in the installed Notes client
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Confirm DXL import is accessible to the userAttempt to access DXL import functionality through the Notes client interface (File > Import or Designer client tools). If the user can navigate to import a DXL file, the feature is accessibleAffected if The DXL import feature is accessible and can be invoked by the user
A user is affected if their HCL Notes client version is 9.0.0, 9.0.1, 10.0, 10.0.1, 11.0, or 11.0.1 and the DXL import feature is available and accessible on their system.
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 dataApply the vendor patch for HCL Notes when available. Until then, restrict DXL imports to trusted sources and exercise caution with untrusted .dxl files.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 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 $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-4102 — 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-2020-4102 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
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