CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-8445 — Ossec Ossec security vulnerability

Critical CVSS 9.8

In OSSEC-HIDS 2.7 through 3.5.0, the OS_CleanMSG function in ossec-analysisd doesn't remove or encode terminal control characters or newlines from processed log messages. In many cases, those characters are later logged. Because newlines (\n) are permitted in messages processed by ossec-analysisd, it may be possible to inject nested events into the ossec log. Use of terminal control characters may allow obfuscating events or executing commands when viewed through vulnerable terminal emulators. This may be an unauthenticated remote attack for certain types and origins of logged data.

Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.8 (3.1)
Published
2020-01-30
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-20

Affected products

  • ossec / ossec

Matched remediation archetype

General vulnerability remediation

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

Check exposure

  • Confirm the affected component, deployment paths, reachable interfaces, and enabled features from inventories and configuration, without probing production destructively.
  • Compare the advisory's affected conditions with the repository lockfiles, build manifests, artifacts, and runtime inventory.
  • Identify data sensitivity, trust boundaries, and privilege level for every confirmed affected deployment.

Remediate safely

  • Apply a vendor-supported fix or remove the affected component or feature; record the selected change and its source in the repository.
  • Update direct and transitive dependency locks, generated artifacts, deployment manifests, and asset inventories together.
  • Add a regression test for the documented unsafe condition using inert inputs and preserve rollback instructions.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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