CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-13365 — Zyxel Nas326 Firmware security vulnerability

High CVSS 9

Certain Zyxel products have a locally accessible binary that allows a non-root user to generate a password for an undocumented user account that can be used for a TELNET session as root. This affects NAS520 V5.21(AASZ.4)C0, V5.21(AASZ.0)C0, V5.11(AASZ.3)C0, and V5.11(AASZ.0)C0; NAS542 V5.11(ABAG.0)C0, V5.20(ABAG.1)C0, and V5.21(ABAG.3)C0; NSA325 v2_V4.81(AALS.0)C0 and V4.81(AAAJ.1)C0; NSA310 4.22(AFK.0)C0 and 4.22(AFK.1)C0; NAS326 V5.21(AAZF.8)C0, V5.11(AAZF.4)C0, V5.11(AAZF.2)C0, and V5.11(AAZF.3)C0; NSA310S V4.75(AALH.2)C0; NSA320S V4.75(AANV.2)C0 and V4.75(AANV.1)C0; NSA221 V4.41(AFM.1)C0; and NAS540 V5.21(AATB.5)C0 and V5.21(AATB.3)C0.

Severity
High
CVSS
9 (2.0)
Published
2020-08-06
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
operating-system
Weaknesses
CWE-287

Affected products

  • zyxel / nas326_firmware
  • zyxel / nas520_firmware
  • zyxel / nas540_firmware
  • zyxel / nas542_firmware

Matched remediation archetype

Authentication bypass and missing authentication

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map every affected endpoint and protocol path, including alternate ports, legacy routes, recovery flows, service accounts, and machine-to-machine access.
  • Confirm which deployments enable the affected authentication mode and whether the interface is reachable from untrusted networks.
  • Review session, token, credential, and proxy trust configuration without attempting account takeover.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and centralize fail-closed authentication before protected request handling.
  • Remove default or embedded credentials, rotate affected secrets and sessions, and bind authentication decisions to the intended audience and channel.
  • Add negative tests for alternate routes, malformed or absent credentials, recovery flows, and proxy-derived identity.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

The detailed catalog view below loads this exact record, its source evidence, and the full seven-phase agentic change plan.