DispatchApplication · Netflix

CVE-2020-9299

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-11-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 20201106 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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
There were XSS vulnerabilities discovered and reported in the Dispatch application, affecting name and description parameters of Incident Priority, Incident Type, Tag Type, and Incident Filter. This vulnerability can be exploited by an authenticated user.

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 confidence

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in the Dispatch application allow authenticated users to inject malicious scripts through name and description parameters of Incident Priority, Incident Type, Tag Type, and Incident Filter components. User-supplied input in these fields is rendered without proper sanitization or encoding.

MitigationImplement context-aware output encoding for all user-supplied name and description fields when rendered in the UI, combined with input validation to reject or sanitize potentially malicious characters and script tags.

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
DispatchApplication
Affected:< 20201106

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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if Netflix Dispatch is installed
    Look for the Dispatch application in your environment, typically deployed as a Python/web application. Check for 'dispatch' in application directories, containers, or service listings.
    Affected if Netflix Dispatch is present in the environment
  2. Check Dispatch version against affected range
    Locate the version file or package metadata (e.g., setup.py, requirements.txt, version.py, or the running application's version endpoint). Compare the installed version to 20201106.
    Affected if The installed version is earlier than 20201106 (e.g., 20201015, 20200901)
  3. Verify authenticated user access to vulnerable components
    Log in as an authenticated user and navigate to the Incident Priority, Incident Type, Tag Type, and Incident Filter configuration areas within the Dispatch admin or settings interface.
    Affected if Authenticated users can access and modify these component settings
  4. Inspect name and description field handling
    As an authenticated user, create or edit an Incident Priority, Incident Type, Tag Type, or Incident Filter. Examine the application's response when submitting HTML or script tags in the name or description fields.
    Affected if User-supplied name/description fields accept and render unsanitized input containing HTML or script tags
  5. Check for existing XSS indicators
    Review application logs or UI output for any stored XSS payloads that may have been injected into the affected component fields. Examine the page source when these fields are displayed.
    Affected if Previously injected script content appears unescaped in the UI or page source

A user is affected if Netflix Dispatch is installed with a version earlier than 20201106 AND authenticated users can access and modify Incident Priority, Incident Type, Tag Type, or Incident Filter components where name/description fields render without sanitization.

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 20201106 or later
Fixed in 20201106
Interim mitigation

Implement context-aware output encoding for all user-supplied name and description fields when rendered in the UI, combined with input validation to reject or sanitize potentially malicious characters and script tags.

Fix this in Dispatch Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,400
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,040.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-9299 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