Ubuntu
CVE-2020-16127
MEDIUM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Input validation, allowlisting
|
| Impact | CVSS score of 5.5 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | Successful exploitation could compromise the medium-severity affected system. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
An Ubuntu-specific modification to AccountsService in versions before 0.6.55-0ubuntu13.2, among other earlier versions, would perform unbounded read operations on user-controlled ~/.pam_environment. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.
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Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-20. An Ubuntu-specific modification to AccountsService in versions before 0.6.55-0ubuntu13.2, among other earlier versions, would perform unbounded read operations on user-controlled ~/.pam_environment files, allowing an infinite loop if /dev/zero is symlinked to this location. Affected products include: Freedesktop Accountsservice. Version information: before 0.6.55.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
An Ubuntu-specific modification to AccountsService in versions before 0.6.55-0ubuntu13.2, among other earlier versions, would perform unbounded read operations on user-controlled ~/.pam_environment files, allowing an infinite loop if /dev/zero is symlinked to this location.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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