CVE-2020-5130
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 · uneditedSonicOS SSLVPN LDAP login request allows remote attackers to cause external service interaction (DNS) due to improper validation of the request. This vulnerability impact SonicOS version 6.5.4.4-44n and earlier.
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 confidenceSonicOS SSLVPN contains an improper input validation vulnerability in the LDAP login request handler. Remote attackers can craft malicious LDAP login requests that cause the VPN appliance to perform DNS lookups to attacker-controlled domains, leading to external service interaction (DNS). This is a form of Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) via LDAP authentication.
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<= 6.5.4.4-44nCVSS 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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Verify SonicOS versionAccess the SonicWall management interface (web GUI or CLI) and navigate to System > Status or use the 'show version' command in CLI. Identify the exact firmware version number displayed.Affected if The installed version is 6.5.4.4-44n or any earlier version in the 6.5.x branch (e.g., 6.5.4.3, 6.5.4.2, etc.)
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Confirm SSLVPN is configuredIn the SonicWall management interface, navigate to VPN > SSL VPN or check the SSL VPN settings page. Verify if any SSL VPN virtual office connections are enabled or configured.Affected if SSL VPN is enabled and configured with LDAP authentication on a vulnerable SonicOS version (6.5.4.4-44n or lower)
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Check LDAP authentication settings for SSLVPNNavigate to Users > Local Users or Authentication > LDAP in the SonicWall interface. Review the LDAP configuration used for SSL VPN authentication, noting the LDAP server settings and any custom attributes.Affected if LDAP authentication is configured as the authentication method for SSL VPN connections on a vulnerable version
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Review DNS resolution behaviorMonitor DNS queries originating from the SonicWall appliance. Check DNS logs or use packet capture on the appliance's external interface to observe what domains are being resolved.Affected if DNS queries are being made to unexpected or attacker-controlled domains that do not correspond to legitimate LDAP or network operations
A system is affected if it runs SonicOS version 6.5.4.4-44n or earlier, has SSL VPN enabled with LDAP authentication configured, and may exhibit unexpected outbound DNS lookups to attacker-specified domains.
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 SonicOS to a version beyond 6.5.4.4-44n that contains the patch. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, restrict LDAP authentication sources and implement network egress filtering to limit what destinations the SSLVPN can resolve.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5130 — 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-2020-5130 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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