Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2020-8597

Q: Is CVE-2020-8597 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2020-8597 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 19.9% on 2026-10-22, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Q: What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-8597?

CVE-2020-8597 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

Published2020-02-03
WeaknessCWE-120

Am I 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

eap.c in pppd in ppp 2.4.2 through 2.4.8 has an rhostname buffer overflow in the eap_request and eap_response functions.

Timeline

dates in UTC

2020-02-0323:15CVE publishedNVD
2026-10-2319:23First public proof of conceptPoC-in-GitHub
2026-10-2319:23EPSS crossed 10 %FIRST EPSS

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 18:48 UTC

Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days

Block these indicators

Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2020-8597?format=txt
CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2020-8597?format=csv
TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD

Canonical ubuntu linux

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
12.4	= 12.04	no fix published	NVD
14.4	= 14.04	no fix published	NVD
16.4	= 16.04	no fix published	NVD
18.4	= 18.04	no fix published	NVD
19.4	= 19.04	no fix published	NVD

Debian debian linux

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
9.0	= 9.0	no fix published	NVD
10.0	= 10.0	no fix published	NVD

Point-to-point protocol project point-to-point protocol

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
2.4	≥ 2.4.2, ≤ 2.4.8	no fix published	NVD

1 more product in the sources.

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

ICSA-20-224-04 CISA2 known affected
Siemens SCALANCE, RUGGEDCOM
Siemens RUGGEDCOM RM1224: All versions < V6.3 · Siemens SCALANCE M-800 / S615: All versions < V6.3

Full record on NVD

Fix

Vendor fix CISA ICSA-20-224-04 · 2 productsUpdate to V6.3
Mitigation from the vendor CISA ICSA-20-224-04 · 2 productsOnly use the PPP functionality of the affected devices in trusted environments. This functionality is not enabled by default but typically used in internet dial-in or Point-to-Point connection scenarios. At this point the vulnerability could be exploited by a malicious peer.

Advisories and patches

github.comPatch

Detection

read 2026-10-23 19:23 UTC

Nuclei template: none so far
Exploit-DB: no entry
Proof-of-concept repositories: 5 repositories, unverifieddointisme/CVE-2020-8597winmin/CVE-2020-8597Dilan-Diaz/Point-to-Point-Protocol-Daemon-RCE-Vulnerability-CVE-2020-8597-lakwsh/CVE-2020-8597anna-kravets/codeql-buffer-overflow-variant

Sources

CISA-ADPSSVC decisionnone2025-12-03
OpenCVESSVC decisionnone—
CISA-ADPCVSS 3.19.82025-12-03
NVDCVSS 3.19.8read 2026-10-23
NVDCVSS 2.07.5read 2026-10-23
CISA-ADPweakness (CWE)CWE-1202025-12-03
NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-120read 2026-10-23
FIRST EPSSEPSS score19.9 %read 2026-10-23
PoC-in-GitHubproof of concept5read 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: 2020-02-03
Last Modified: 2026-06-17
NVD status: Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-8597?

eap.c in pppd in ppp 2.4.2 through 2.4.8 has an rhostname buffer overflow in the eap_request and eap_response functions.

Is CVE-2020-8597 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2020-8597 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 19.9% on 2026-10-22, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2020-8597?

CVE-2020-8597 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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