CVE-2020-5824
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 · uneditedSymantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) and Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition (SEP SBE), prior to 14.2 RU2 MP1 and prior to 14.2.5569.2100 respectively, may be susceptible to a denial of service vulnerability, which is a type of issue whereby a threat actor attempts to tie up the resources of a resident application, thereby making certain functions unavailable.
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 confidenceA denial of service vulnerability exists in Symantec Endpoint Protection and SEP Small Business Edition prior to versions 14.2 RU2 MP1 and 14.2.5569.2100 respectively. The vulnerability allows a threat actor to consume or tie up system resources of the resident endpoint protection application, potentially making certain functions 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= 11.0= 12.1= 14.0.0= 14.0.1= 14.2= 12.0CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check the installed version of Symantec Endpoint ProtectionLocate the product version through the GUI (Help > About) or via system information tools, or query the version through the Symantec management consoleAffected if The version displayed is 11.0, 12.0, 12.1, 14.0.0, 14.0.1, or 14.2 (or any version of SEP Small Business Edition prior to 14.2.5569.2100)
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Confirm whether the installation is SEP or SEP Small Business EditionIdentify the specific product variant installed, either through the management console, the installed program name, or the product licensing informationAffected if The product is Symantec Endpoint Protection version 14.2 RU2 MP1 or earlier, or SEP Small Business Edition version 14.2.5569.2100 or earlier
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Verify the SymEndpoint service is runningCheck the Windows services console (services.msc) or use command line tools to confirm the Symantec Endpoint Protection service is activeAffected if The SymEndpoint service is running and the version falls within the vulnerable range identified in step 1
If the installed Symantec Endpoint Protection version is 14.2 RU2 MP1 or earlier (or SEP Small Business Edition is earlier than 14.2.5569.2100), the environment is vulnerable to resource exhaustion via this DoS flaw.
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 Symantec Endpoint Protection to version 14.2 RU2 MP1 (or SEP SBE to 14.2.5569.2100) or later to remediate this vulnerability.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5824 — 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-2020-5824 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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