Adaptive Server EnterpriseApplication · Sap

CVE-2020-6259

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-05-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Under certain conditions SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise, versions 15.7, 16.0, allows an attacker to access information which would otherwise be restricted leading to Missing Authorization Check.

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

SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) versions 15.7 and 16.0 contain a missing authorization check vulnerability that allows an attacker to access restricted information under certain conditions. The flaw enables unauthorized access to data that should be protected by ASE's authorization controls.

MitigationApply the relevant SAP security patch for CVE-2020-6259 and review ASE user permissions and role-based access controls to ensure proper authorization is enforced for sensitive resources.

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
Adaptive Server EnterpriseApplication
Affected:= 15.7= 16.0

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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify SAP ASE installation and version
    Run 'select @@version' or 'sp_version' in isql/ASE to retrieve the exact ASE version number
    Affected if The version displayed is exactly 15.7 or 16.0
  2. Verify authorization configuration for protected resources
    Query system tables such as sysprotects, sysusers, and systhresholds to review permission settings on sensitive tables or database objects
    Affected if Users without explicit grant appear to have accessed protected objects or permission gaps exist in the authorization matrix
  3. Review ASE audit logs for unauthorized access patterns
    Check the ASE errorlog and audit tables (sysaudits, sysauditoptions) for entries indicating access to restricted data by users lacking proper authorization
    Affected if Audit records show access attempts or successful queries to protected resources by users without documented authorization
  4. Inspect role and permission assignments
    Use 'sp_helpuser' and 'sp_helprole' to enumerate all users and roles, then cross-reference with access to sensitive tables identified via 'sp_help <table_name>'
    Affected if Users or roles without explicit permissions on protected tables are found to have accessed those tables

A user is affected if they run SAP ASE version 15.7 or 16.0 and have sensitive data protected by ASE authorization controls that may be bypassed by unauthorized users.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the relevant SAP security patch for CVE-2020-6259 and review ASE user permissions and role-based access controls to ensure proper authorization is enforced for sensitive resources.

Fix this in Adaptive Server Enterprise Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,980
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-6259 — 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-2020-6259 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