CVE-2020-17438
No exploitation reported by the sources we read.
- Published2020-12-11
- WeaknessCWE-787
Am I affected?
Debian, Ubuntu or Red Hat sometimes backport a fix without changing the upstream version number: such a version reads « to verify », never « affected ».With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.
Description
An issue was discovered in uIP 1.0, as used in Contiki 3.0 and other products. The code that reassembles fragmented packets fails to properly validate the total length of an incoming packet specified in its IP header, as well as the fragmentation offset value specified in the IP header. By crafting a packet with specific values of the IP header length and the fragmentation offset, attackers can write into the .bss section of the program (past the statically allocated buffer that is used for storing the fragmented data) and cause a denial of service in uip_reass() in uip.c, or possibly execute arbitrary code on some target architectures.
Timeline
dates in UTC- 2020-12-1123:15CVE publishedNVD
- 2026-10-2319:23EPSS crossed 10 %FIRST EPSS
Observed activity
isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTCBlock these indicators
- Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2020-17438?format=txt
- CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2020-17438?format=csv
- TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
- The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.
Versions per branch
NVD| Branch | Affected | Fixed in | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | = 1.0 | no fix published | NVD |
as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.
Distribution builds and vendor advisories
Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.
version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.
Vendor advisories
Multiple Embedded TCP/IP Stacks
uIP (EOL): Version 1.0 and prior · uIP-Contiki-NG: Version 4.5 and prior · Nut/Net: Version 5.1 and prior · +5 more
Fix
- Vendor fix CISA ICSA-20-343-01 · 8 productsAdditional vendors affected by the reported vulnerabilities have also released security advisories related to their affected products. Those advisories are as follows:
Detection
- Nuclei template
- none so far ProjectDiscovery
- Exploit-DB
- no entry Exploit-DB
- Proof-of-concept repositories
- none listed PoC-in-GitHub
Sources
- NVDCVSS 3.19.8read 2026-10-23
- NVDCVSS 2.07.5read 2026-10-23
- NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-787read 2026-10-23
- FIRST EPSSEPSS score19.3 %read 2026-10-23
Technical details
- CVSS v3 Vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Published
- 2020-12-11
- Last Modified
- 2026-06-17
- NVD status
- Modified
Frequently asked questions
What is CVE-2020-17438?
Is CVE-2020-17438 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-17438?
Hear about the next vulnerability in your software
Surveillance reads the versions in your stack — a domain, a lockfile or a list — checks each CVE against the ranges its sources publish, and alerts you when one you run is exploited or enters CISA KEV. A version it cannot read stays « version not verified ».
No credit card required · No monthly cap on website lookups · 250 API requests/month
Go further
- Following what attackers exploit right now? The CISA KEV additions of the month, with their patch deadlines.
- Running this software? Vulnerability monitoring alerts you to new vulnerabilities in your products.
Related vulnerabilities
Same product first, then the same vendor advisory and the same publication week.