NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2020-12271: A SQL injection issue was found in SFOS 17.0, 17.1, 17.5, and 18.0 before 2020-04-25 on Sophos XG Firewall devices, as exploited in the wild

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Now (action score 82/100)

CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Nov 3, 2021); it is known to be used in ransomware campaigns. Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 3, 2022.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 42.4% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 98.6% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Patch today or shut off access. Until a fix is released, restrict access to the affected component and 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 · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

A SQL injection issue was found in SFOS 17.0, 17.1, 17.5, and 18.0 before 2020-04-25 on Sophos XG Firewall devices, as exploited in the wild in April 2020. This affected devices configured with either the administration (HTTPS) service or the User Portal exposed on the WAN zone. A successful attack may have caused remote code execution that exfiltrated usernames and hashed passwords for the local device admin(s), portal admins, and user accounts used for remote access (but not external Active Directory or LDAP passwords)

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized No fix recorded

BDU:2021-01196

Published: Apr 27, 2020
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 42.4% · 98th percentile
CWE: CWE-89

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Now

Patch today or shut off access.

CVSS: 39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV: 30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS: 13 / 30 · 42.4%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: active
Automatable: yes
Technical impact: total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD: 9.8
CNA · mitre: 10.0; 0.2 point gap

CVSS:3.0/AC:L/AV:N/A:H/C:H/I:H/PR:N/S:C/UI:N

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

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Nov 3, 2021. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 3, 2022.

Known to be used in ransomware campaigns.

Get told when this record changes

In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
Weaponized exploit exists
No fixed version yet

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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.

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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.

Vendor	Product	CPE
sophos	sfos	cpe:2.3:o:sophos:sfos
sophos	xg firewall	cpe:2.3:h:sophos:xg_firewall

Affected versions

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

sophos sfos17.0
sophos sfos17.1
sophos sfos17.5
sophos sfos18.0

Same product

sophos: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2022-1040An authentication bypass vulnerability in the User Portal and Webadmin allows a remote attacker to execute code in Sophos Firewall version vKEV
99Now
CVE-2018-16117A shell escape vulnerability in /webconsole/Controller in Admin Portal of Sophos XG firewall 17.0.8 MR-8 allow remote authenticated attacker
48Plan
CVE-2020-11503A heap-based buffer overflow in the awarrensmtp component of Sophos XG Firewall v17.5 MR11 and older potentially allows an attacker to run a
39Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2018-16116Jun 20, 2019 · SQL injection vulnerability in AccountStatus.jsp in Admin Portal of Sophos XG firewall 17.0.8 MR-8 allow remote authenticated attackers to e
36Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2018-16118Jun 20, 2019 · A shell escape vulnerability in /webconsole/APIController in the API Configuration component of Sophos XG firewall 17.0.8 MR-8 allows remote
33Monitor
Later →CVE-2022-0331Mar 28, 2022 · An information disclosure vulnerability in Webadmin allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to read the device serial number in Sophos Fir
21Monitor

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

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

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.

PublishedApr 27, 2020
CISA KEVNov 3, 2021+555 d
TodayOct 27, 2026+2375 d

EPSS, last 120 days-1% in 7 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

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.

No credits in the CNA record.

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

SophosBugcrowd · paid · up to $80,000

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

TR-20-270 · Apr 27, 2020(Sophos Firewall Zafiyeti)

All national notices →

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
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: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

The query text is built by concatenating user input. The database cannot tell where the data ends and the command begins.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-89 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

1const owner = req.query.owner;
2const rows = await db.query(
3  "SELECT * FROM files WHERE owner = '" + owner + "'"
4);

Fixed

1const owner = req.query.owner;
2const rows = await db.query(
3  "SELECT * FROM files WHERE owner = $1",
4  [owner]
5);

Attack context

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

Attack patterns (CAPEC)

ATT&CK techniques

—

Change log

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

References

community.sophos.com/kb/en-us/135412

Show all references (2 more)

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

All records