CVE-2020-6979
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 · uneditedIn Moxa EDS-G516E Series firmware, Version 5.2 or lower, the affected products use a hard-coded cryptographic key, increasing the possibility that confidential data can be recovered.
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 confidenceThe Moxa EDS-G516E Series firmware versions 5.2 and below contains a hard-coded cryptographic key embedded in the firmware binary. This static key is used to protect confidential data through encryption, but because the same key exists in all affected devices and cannot be changed by administrators, anyone who obtains or reverses the firmware can decrypt all encrypted data communication and storage on these devices.
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<= 5.2<= 5.2CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the device modelAccess the device web interface or console and locate the model information. Confirm the device is either Moxa EDS-G516E or Moxa EDS-510E.Affected if The device model is EDS-G516E or EDS-510E.
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Check the installed firmware versionAccess the device web interface, console, or SNMP interface and locate the firmware version information. Compare it to the affected range.Affected if The firmware version is 5.2 or lower.
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Determine if encryption features are in useCheck the device configuration for any enabled encryption settings, including encrypted web access (HTTPS), encrypted communications protocols, or encrypted storage features.Affected if Any encryption feature that uses the embedded key is enabled or configured.
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Verify the cryptographic key configurationExamine the device settings for any hard-coded or default cryptographic key references. The vulnerability exists because the same static key is used across all affected firmware versions.Affected if A static or default cryptographic key is in use and cannot be changed by administrators.
The environment is affected if the device is an EDS-G516E or EDS-510E model running firmware version 5.2 or lower with any encryption feature enabled that relies on the embedded key.
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 dataUpdate the firmware to a version higher than 5.2 which replaces the hard-coded key with proper cryptographic key management. If vulnerable firmware is currently in production, consider any data encrypted using the default key as potentially compromised.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation20.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-6979 — 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-2020-6979 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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