CVE-2020-15863

Name: CVE-2020-15863
Creator: NVD / NIST
Published: 2020-07-28T16:15:12.777+00:00
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

MEDIUMCVSS 5.3/10EPSS 0.45%

Last modified Jun 17, 2026

CVE-2020-15863 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 5.3/10 on the CVSS scale. hw/net/xgmac.c in the XGMAC Ethernet controller in QEMU before 07-20-2020 has a buffer overflow. This occurs during packet transmission and affects the highbank and midway emulated machines. EPSS estimates a 0.45% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Description

hw/net/xgmac.c in the XGMAC Ethernet controller in QEMU before 07-20-2020 has a buffer overflow. This occurs during packet transmission and affects the highbank and midway emulated machines. A guest user or process could use this flaw to crash the QEMU process on the host, resulting in a denial of service or potential privileged code execution. This was fixed in commit 5519724a13664b43e225ca05351c60b4468e4555.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1

5.3/10

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

EPSS Probability

0.45%

36.2th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-787

Affected Software

Vendor	Product	Versions	Update
Qemu	Qemu	<= 5.0.0	—
Qemu	Qemu	5.1.0	Rc0
Debian	Debian Linux	10.0	—
Canonical	Ubuntu Linux	16.04	—
Canonical	Ubuntu Linux	18.04	—
Canonical	Ubuntu Linux	20.04	—

References

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-10/msg00024.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/07/22/1Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=5519724a13664b43e225ca05351c60b4468e4555
https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2020-07/msg03497.htmlMailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2020-07/msg05745.htmlMailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202208-27Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4467-1/Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4760Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-10/msg00024.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/07/22/1Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=5519724a13664b43e225ca05351c60b4468e4555
https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2020-07/msg03497.htmlMailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2020-07/msg05745.htmlMailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202208-27Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4467-1/Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4760Third Party Advisory

Timeline

Published: Jul 28, 2020
Last Modified: Jun 17, 2026
Status: Modified

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-15863?

How severe is CVE-2020-15863?

CVE-2020-15863 has a CVSS score of 5.3/10 (MEDIUM severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.45% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix CVE-2020-15863?

Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

Are you affected by CVE-2020-15863?

Run a free Strix scan to check your systems for this vulnerability.

Scan your code now

Source: NVD / NIST