CVE-2020-8213
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 · uneditedAn information exposure vulnerability exists in UniFi Protect before v1.13.4-beta.5 that allowed unauthenticated attackers access to valid usernames for the UniFi Protect web application via HTTP response code and response timing.
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 confidenceUniFi Protect before v1.13.4-beta.5 contains an information exposure vulnerability where the application's authentication endpoints leak valid usernames through differences in HTTP response codes or response timing. Unauthenticated attackers can enumerate valid user accounts by observing these differences, which enables further attacks such as credential stuffing.
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<= 1.13.3CVSS 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
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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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Check installed UniFi Protect versionAccess the UniFi Protect controller UI, navigate to the system settings, or run 'unifi-protect info' via CLI if available. Identify the displayed version number.Affected if The installed version is 1.13.3 or lower (any version <= 1.13.3).
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Test authentication endpoint for username enumerationSend two POST requests to the UniFi Protect login endpoint: one with a known-valid username and another with a random invalid username. Use identical passwords for both requests.Affected if The responses differ in HTTP status code (e.g., 401 for invalid user, 403 or 200 for valid user) or in any error message content that reveals whether the username exists.
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Measure response timing differenceSend multiple authentication requests with the same credentials, alternating between a valid username and an invalid username. Record the response time for each request and calculate the average difference.Affected if Response times consistently differ by more than a few hundred milliseconds between valid and invalid usernames, indicating the server processes valid accounts differently.
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Inspect authentication error messagesExamine the HTTP response body when authenticating with valid username + wrong password versus invalid username + any password. Compare the error strings returned.Affected if The error messages or HTTP status codes explicitly indicate whether the username is valid (e.g., 'Invalid password' vs 'User not found').
Your environment is affected if UniFi Protect version is 1.13.3 or lower and the authentication endpoint reveals whether a username exists through different response codes, messages, or timing.
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 UniFi Protect to version v1.13.4-beta.5 or later. If immediate upgrade is not possible, implement response normalization to ensure consistent HTTP status codes and timing regardless of whether a username is valid.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8213 — 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-2020-8213 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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