CVE-2020-6231
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 · uneditedSAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Platform (Web Intelligence HTML interface), version 4.2, does not sufficiently encode user-controlled inputs, resulting in Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability.
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 confidenceSAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Platform version 4.2 contains a reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Web Intelligence HTML interface. User-controlled inputs are not properly encoded before being rendered in the HTML output, allowing an attacker to inject malicious JavaScript code that executes in the context of other users' browsers.
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= 4.2CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
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.
-
Verify SAP Business Objects BI Platform versionCheck the installed version of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform through the SAP Business Objects Central Management Console (CMC) or by reviewing the installation directory for version information. The product version can typically be found in the 'About' section of the CMC or in the version.properties file within the BusinessObjects installation directory.Affected if The installed version is exactly 4.2
-
Confirm Web Intelligence HTML interface is enabledAccess the SAP Business Objects BI Platform launch pad and verify that the Web Intelligence (WebI) HTML interface is available. This can be checked through the CMC under the 'Applications' management section to see if the Web Intelligence HTML interface application is enabled.Affected if The Web Intelligence HTML interface is enabled and accessible to users
-
Test for reflected XSS in Web Intelligence parametersLog into the Web Intelligence HTML interface and identify input fields or URL parameters that accept user-supplied data. Common entry points include document parameters, refresh options, or report navigation parameters. Observe whether special characters (<, >, ", ') are returned in the response without encoding.Affected if User-supplied input in Web Intelligence HTML interface is reflected in the response without proper HTML encoding
You are affected if you are running SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform version 4.2 with the Web Intelligence HTML interface enabled and user inputs are not HTML-encoded in the output.
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 relevant SAP security patch for CVE-2020-6231 and ensure all user-supplied inputs in the Web Intelligence HTML interface are properly validated and encoded before rendering.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $3,648.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-6231 — 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-2020-6231 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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