CVE-2020-8484
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 · uneditedInsufficient protection of the inter-process communication functions in ABB System 800xA for DCI (all published versions) enables an attacker authenticated on the local system to inject data, allowing reads and writes to the controllers or cause windows processes to crash.
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 confidenceInsufficient protection of inter-process communication (IPC) functions in ABB System 800xA for DCI allows an attacker with local system authentication to inject data into the IPC channel, enabling unauthorized reads and writes to controllers and causing Windows processes to crash.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm ABB 800xA installationCheck Windows Programs and Features or registry for 'ABB System 800xA' entryAffected if ABB System 800xA is listed as installed
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Verify DCI component presenceLook for 'DCI' or 'Distributed Control Interface' component within ABB 800xA installation directories, typically under the 800xA base pathAffected if DCI component folder or service is present on the system
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Identify IPC service or processCheck Windows Services or running processes for DCI-related IPC services, look for process names containing 'DCI' or 'IPC' in task manager or via command: sc queryex type= service state= allAffected if A DCI-related IPC service or process is running
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Check local authentication exposureReview which local users have system-level access or membership in administrative groups that could authenticate to local IPC channelsAffected if Multiple local users or groups have system-level authentication privileges beyond trusted administrators
If ABB System 800xA with the DCI component is installed and running on the system, the environment is affected regardless of version since all versions are vulnerable.
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 ABB vendor patches when available; until then, restrict local system access to trusted personnel only and implement network segmentation to limit exposure from compromised local accounts.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $12,160.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8484 — 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-2020-8484 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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