CVE-2020-8485
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 MOD 300 (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 · high confidenceInsufficient protection of inter-process communication (IPC) functions in ABB System 800xA for MOD 300 allows a locally authenticated attacker to inject malicious data into IPC channels, enabling unauthorized read/write access 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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Verify ABB System 800xA installationCheck if ABB System 800xA is installed by reviewing installed programs in Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or query the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for entries containing 'ABB' and '800xA'Affected if ABB System 800xA appears in installed programs or registry listings
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Confirm MOD 300 component is presentIdentify whether the MOD 300 application component is installed as part of the ABB 800xA deployment. Check for MOD 300-specific directories, services, or applications within the ABB 800xA installation path (typically found under C:\ABB\ or C:\Program Files\ABB\)Affected if MOD 300 component or application is found within the ABB 800xA installation
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Verify local authentication is enabledReview system user accounts and authentication settings to determine if local Windows accounts exist on the system. Check Local Users and Groups (lusrmgr.msc) or use 'net user' command to list local accountsAffected if Local Windows user accounts are present on the system hosting ABB 800xA for MOD 300
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Inspect IPC channel exposureExamine process communication settings and network bindings for ABB 800xA services. Review configuration files related to controller communication and IPC channels within the MOD 300 installation directoryAffected if IPC channels for MOD 300 controller communication are configured and accessible to local authenticated users
A system is affected if it runs ABB System 800xA with the MOD 300 component installed and accepts local user authentication, as this enables the IPC injection attack vector described in the CVE.
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 vendor-provided security patches for ABB System 800xA for MOD 300; restrict local system access to authorized personnel only until patches are applied.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 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 $12,352.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8485 — 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-2020-8485 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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