CVE-2020-28941

Name: CVE-2020-28941
Creator: NVD / NIST
Published: 2020-11-19T19:15:11.797+00:00
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

MEDIUMCVSS 5.5/10EPSS 0.33%

Last modified Jun 17, 2026

CVE-2020-28941 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 5.5/10 on the CVSS scale. An issue was discovered in drivers/accessibility/speakup/spk_ttyio.c in the Linux kernel through 5.9.9. Local attackers on systems with the speakup driver could cause a local denial of service attack, aka CID-d41227544427. EPSS estimates a 0.33% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Description

An issue was discovered in drivers/accessibility/speakup/spk_ttyio.c in the Linux kernel through 5.9.9. Local attackers on systems with the speakup driver could cause a local denial of service attack, aka CID-d41227544427. This occurs because of an invalid free when the line discipline is used more than once.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1

5.5/10

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

EPSS Probability

0.33%

24.5th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

Vendor	Product	Versions
Linux	Linux Kernel	<= 5.9.9
Fedoraproject	Fedora	32
Fedoraproject	Fedora	33
Debian	Debian Linux	9.0

References

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/11/19/5Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d4122754442799187d5d537a9c039a49a67e57f1Patch, Vendor Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/tty.git/commit/?h=tty-linus&id=d4122754442799187d5d537a9c039a49a67e57f1Patch, Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/d4122754442799187d5d537a9c039a49a67e57f1Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00015.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TITJQPYDWZ4NB2ONJWUXW75KSQIPF35T/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZF4OGZPKTAJJXWHPIFP3LHEWWEMR5LPT/
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/11/19/3Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/11/19/5Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d4122754442799187d5d537a9c039a49a67e57f1Patch, Vendor Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/tty.git/commit/?h=tty-linus&id=d4122754442799187d5d537a9c039a49a67e57f1Patch, Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/d4122754442799187d5d537a9c039a49a67e57f1Patch, Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00015.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TITJQPYDWZ4NB2ONJWUXW75KSQIPF35T/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZF4OGZPKTAJJXWHPIFP3LHEWWEMR5LPT/
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/11/19/3Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory

Timeline

Published: Nov 19, 2020
Last Modified: Jun 17, 2026
Status: Modified

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-28941?

How severe is CVE-2020-28941?

CVE-2020-28941 has a CVSS score of 5.5/10 (MEDIUM severity). The EPSS model estimates a 0.33% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix CVE-2020-28941?

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-2020-28941?

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

Scan your code now

Source: NVD / NIST