SonicosOperating system · Sonicwall

CVE-2020-5134

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6.5.4.4 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A vulnerability in SonicOS allows an authenticated attacker to cause out-of-bound invalid file reference leads to a firewall crash. This vulnerability affected SonicOS Gen 6 version 6.5.1.12, 6.0.5.3, SonicOSv 6.5.4.v and Gen 7 version 7.0.0.0.

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 confidence

A denial-of-service vulnerability in SonicOS allows an authenticated attacker to trigger an out-of-bounds invalid file reference that causes the firewall to crash. The issue stems from insufficient bounds checking when processing file references in the affected SonicOS versions.

MitigationApply vendor patches or upgrade to a patched SonicOS version beyond the affected releases (Gen 6 6.5.1.12/6.0.5.3, Gen 7 7.0.0.0, SonicOSv 6.5.4.v). Since exploitation requires authentication, also restrict administrative access to trusted personnel only.

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
SonicosOperating system
Affected:<= 6.0.5.3>= 6.5.0.0, <= 6.5.1.11= 7.0.0.0
SonicosvOperating system
Affected:<= 6.5.4.4

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Identify installed SonicOS version
    Access the firewall admin interface and navigate to System > Status or use the command 'show version' via CLI to retrieve the exact SonicOS version number
    Affected if The version falls within these ranges: <= 6.0.5.3, >= 6.5.0.0 through <= 6.5.1.11, = 7.0.0.0 (for SonicOS); <= 6.5.4.4 (for SonicOSv)
  2. Confirm product type
    Verify whether the appliance runs SonicOS or SonicOSv (virtual appliance) from the System Status page or CLI output
    Affected if The product is SonicOSv with version <= 6.5.4.4 and the vulnerability applies to that specific product line
  3. Verify administrative access exposure
    Review firewall access control settings under Network > Interfaces or System > Administration to determine if the management interface is accessible from untrusted networks
    Affected if The admin interface is exposed to the internet or untrusted LAN segments, allowing authenticated attackers to reach the vulnerable code path

The environment is affected if the firewall runs a SonicOS or SonicOSv version matching the affected ranges AND the management interface is accessible to potential authenticated attackers.

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 a release after 6.5.4.4
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patches or upgrade to a patched SonicOS version beyond the affected releases (Gen 6 6.5.1.12/6.0.5.3, Gen 7 7.0.0.0, SonicOSv 6.5.4.v). Since exploitation requires authentication, also restrict administrative access to trusted personnel only.

Fix this in Sonicos Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5134 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-5134 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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