CVE-2020-4412
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 · uneditedThe Spectrum Scale 4.2.0.0 through 4.2.3.21 and 5.0.0.0 through 5.0.4.3 file system component is affected by a denial of service security vulnerability. An attacker can force the Spectrum Scale mmfsd/mmsdrserv daemons to unexpectedly exit, impacting the functionality of the Spectrum Scale cluster and the availability of file systems managed by Spectrum Scale. IBM X-Force ID: 179987.
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 confidenceIBM Spectrum Scale (formerly GPFS) file system component contains a denial of service vulnerability affecting versions 4.2.0.0 through 4.2.3.21 and 5.0.0.0 through 5.0.4.3. An unauthenticated attacker can trigger unexpected exit of the mmfsd and/or mmsdrserv daemons, causing cluster disruption and rendering managed file systems unavailable.
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>= 4.2.0.0, <= 4.2.3.21>= 5.0.0.0, <= 5.0.4.3CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
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 IBM Spectrum Scale versionRun 'mmgetversion' command on any node in the cluster to retrieve the installed version numberAffected if Version returned is 4.2.0.0 through 4.2.3.21 or 5.0.0.0 through 5.0.4.3
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Verify cluster daemon statusExecute 'mmdiag -ta' or check process status of mmfsd and mmsdrserv daemons using 'ps -ef | grep -E 'mmfsd|mmsdrserv''Affected if Daemons are running but the version is within the affected range, indicating potential exposure to the DoS flaw
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Confirm Scale version via packageQuery the installed package database: on RHEL/CentOS use 'rpm -qa | grep -i spectrum-scale', on SLES use 'zypper se spectrum-scale', or check /usr/lpp/mmfs/ for version filesAffected if Package version matches affected ranges listed in the CVE
A system is affected if the installed IBM Spectrum Scale version falls within 4.2.0.0 to 4.2.3.21 or 5.0.0.0 to 5.0.4.3, making the mmfsd and mmsdrserv daemons vulnerable to unauthenticated remote shutdown.
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 dataUpgrade Spectrum Scale to version 4.2.3.22 or later, or 5.0.4.4 or later. Apply within planned maintenance window due to cluster impact.
- 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-2020-4412 — 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-2020-4412 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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