Strongloop Nginx ControllerWeb server / proxy · Ibm

CVE-2020-7621

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-04-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.0.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
strong-nginx-controller through 1.0.2 is vulnerable to Command Injection. It allows execution of arbitrary command as part of the '_nginxCmd()' function.

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 confidence

strong-nginx-controller through version 1.0.2 contains a command injection vulnerability in the _nginxCmd() function that allows attackers to execute arbitrary OS commands. This occurs due to unsanitized user input being passed to a system shell execution call.

MitigationUpdate to a patched version if available. If no patch exists, implement strict input validation and use safer alternatives to shell execution (e.g., exec with array arguments instead of system shell calls) to remediate the injection point in the _nginxCmd() function.

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
Strongloop Nginx ControllerWeb server / proxy
Affected:<= 1.0.2

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Check installed version of strong-nginx-controller
    Run `npm list strong-nginx-controller` or inspect your package.json file for the installed version
    Affected if The installed version is 1.0.2 or lower
  2. Locate the _nginxCmd function in the codebase
    Search the codebase for the string '_nginxCmd' to identify if this function exists in the deployed application
    Affected if The _nginxCmd function is present in the codebase and is being used
  3. Verify if user input reaches the vulnerable function
    Examine the code paths that call _nginxCmd to determine if any HTTP request parameters or user-controlled data are passed to this function without sanitization
    Affected if User-supplied input (such as query parameters, headers, or body data) is passed directly to the _nginxCmd function without validation
  4. Check for shell execution without sanitization
    Inspect the implementation of _nginxCmd to see if it uses methods that invoke a system shell (such as exec with string arguments, system, or shellexec) with unsanitized input
    Affected if The _nginxCmd function executes system commands using unsanitized user input through a shell interpreter

You are affected if you have strong-nginx-controller version 1.0.2 or earlier and your application passes user input to the _nginxCmd function without sanitization, allowing command injection.

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 1.0.2
Interim mitigation

Update to a patched version if available. If no patch exists, implement strict input validation and use safer alternatives to shell execution (e.g., exec with array arguments instead of system shell calls) to remediate the injection point in the _nginxCmd() function.

Fix this in Strongloop Nginx Controller Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,290
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2020-7621 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