6.5

CVE-2020-7942: puppet Improper Certificate Validation

CVSS: 6.5v3.1MediumModified
AliasesSUSE-SU-2020:1057-1DEBIAN-CVE-2020-7942GHSA-gqvf-892r-vjm5
Published 19-02-2020Last modified 04-08-2024
Open JSON

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2020-7942 is a medium (CVSS 6.5) Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in puppet. EPSS estimates a 0.80% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 55.7% of scored vulnerabilities.

Overall risk
26/100
0100
Medium · default modelHow is this calculated?
CVSS score
6.5/10
010
Medium · v3.1 (NVD)
EPSS score
0.80%
0%100%
Low · -0.02 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedIn no KEV catalog
RansomwareNone recordedNo known use recorded
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 1
RHSA-2020:4366

Timeline

  1. 19-02-2020
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 04-08-2024
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

Previously, Puppet operated on a model that a node with a valid certificate was entitled to all information in the system and that a compromised certificate allowed access to everything in the infrastructure. When a node's catalog falls back to the `default` node, the catalog can be retrieved for a different node by modifying facts for the Puppet run. This issue can be mitigated by setting `strict_hostname_checking = true` in `puppet.conf` on your Puppet master. Puppet 6.13.0 and 5.5.19 changes the default behavior for strict_hostname_checking from false to true. It is recommended that Puppet Open Source and Puppet Enterprise users that are not upgrading still set strict_hostname_checking to true to ensure secure behavior. Affected software versions: Puppet 6.x prior to 6.13.0 Puppet Agent 6.x prior to 6.13.0 Puppet 5.5.x prior to 5.5.19 Puppet Agent 5.5.x prior to 5.5.19 Resolved in: Puppet 6.13.0 Puppet Agent 6.13.0 Puppet 5.5.19 Puppet Agent 5.5.19

CVSS metrics

4 scores · 3 sources · 2 versions

EPSS trend

Probability

0.80%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

56%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

-0.02 pp

From 0.82% on 18-09-2026

18-09-202618-10-2026
EPSS score
0.80%

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs

Not in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Puppet2 products
  • puppetEOL5.5.x prior to 5.5.19 | Fixed in 5.5.19 | 6.x prior to 6.13.0 | Fixed in 6.13.0 | ≥ 5.5.0, < 5.5.19 | ≥ 6.0.0, < 6.13.0
  • puppet_agent5.5.x prior to 5.5.19 | Fixed in 5.5.19 | 6.x prior to 6.13.0 | Fixed in 6.13.0 | ≥ 5.5.0, < 5.5.19 | ≥ 6.0.0, < 6.13.0
Debian1 product
  • puppetAll versions (No fix recorded)
RubyGems1 product
  • puppet≥ 6.0.0, < 6.13.0 | < 5.5.19
Suse1 product
  • puppet&distro=SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Advanced Systems Management 12< 3.8.5-15.12.1

4 vendors · 5 products

References

8 links