Skip to content
Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA canonical

CVE-2020-11933: local snapd exploit through cloud-init

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 27/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.21% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Physical access to the device is required. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

cloud-init as managed by snapd on Ubuntu Core 16 and Ubuntu Core 18 devices was run without restrictions on every boot, which a physical attacker could exploit by crafting cloud-init user-data/meta-data via external media to perform arbitrary changes on the device to bypass intended security mechanisms such as full disk encryption. This issue did not affect traditional Ubuntu systems. Fixed in snapd version 2.45.2, revision 8539 and core version 2.45.2, revision 9659.

MediumCVSS 6.8 · v3.1—No exploit No fix recorded
Published
Jul 29, 2020
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
0.2% · 12th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

27

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
27 / 40 · 6.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.2%

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
6.8
CNA · canonical
7.3
0.5 point gap

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2020-11933

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits instantly.

Your free account also gets you

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

  • Stack alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every MondayDon't want an account? RSS feed for canonical records

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
canonicalsnapd
canonicalubuntu linux

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • canonical snapdbefore 2.45.2
  • canonical ubuntu linux16.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux18.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux19.10
  • canonical ubuntu linux20.04

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (canonical). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Canonical core

    • 2.45.2 and later · before 2.45.2, revision 9659affected

  • Canonical snapd

    • 2.45.2 and later · before 2.45.2, revision 8539affected

Same product

canonical: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2019-7304Local privilege escalation via snapd socket
    57Plan
  • CVE-2023-1523Using the TIOCLINUX ioctl request, a malicious snap could inject contents into the input of the controlling terminal which could allow it to
    40Plan
  • CVE-2020-27352When generating the systemd service units for the docker snap (and other similar snaps), snapd does not specify Delegate=yes - as a result s
    35Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-11502Apr 24, 2019 · snap-confine in snapd before 2.38 incorrectly set the ownership of a snap application to the uid and gid of the first calling user.
    31Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-11503Apr 24, 2019 · snap-confine as included in snapd before 2.39 did not guard against symlink races when performing the chdir() to the current working directo
    31Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2021-3155Feb 17, 2022 · snapd created ~/snap with too-wide permissions
    22Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Physical access to the device is required.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Physical
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-264 · Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records