How severe is CVE-2020-14385?

CVE-2020-14385 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2020-14385 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (33rd percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2020-14385?

CVE-2020-14385 primarily affects Linux Linux Kernel. In total, 8 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2020-14385?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2020-14385 published?

CVE-2020-14385 was published on 2020-09-15 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2020-14385

CVE-2020-14385 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-131.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 5.5)
CVSS v2: 4.7
EPSS exploit prediction: 0% (33rd percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-131
Affected product: Linux Linux Kernel
Published: 2020-09-15
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel before 5.9-rc4. A failure of the file system metadata validator in XFS can cause an inode with a valid, user-creatable extended attribute to be flagged as corrupt. This can lead to the filesystem being shutdown, or otherwise rendered inaccessible until it is remounted, leading to a denial of service. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-14385?: A flaw was found in the Linux kernel before 5.9-rc4. A failure of the file system metadata validator in XFS can cause an inode with a valid, user-creatable extended attribute to be flagged as corrupt. This can lead to the filesystem being shutdown, or otherwise rendered inaccessible until it is remounted, leading to a denial of service. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.
How severe is CVE-2020-14385?: CVE-2020-14385 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2020-14385 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (33rd percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2020-14385?: CVE-2020-14385 primarily affects Linux Linux Kernel. In total, 8 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2020-14385?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2020-14385 published?: CVE-2020-14385 was published on 2020-09-15 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (8)

cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.9.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Linux Linux Kernel

CVE-2023-2163 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Incorrect verifier pruning in BPF in Linux Kernel >=5.4 leads to unsafe code paths being incorrectly marked as safe,…
CVE-2015-8104 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The KVM subsystem in the Linux kernel through 4.2.6, and Xen 4.3.x through 4.6.x, allows guest OS users to cause a…
CVE-2015-1421 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Use-after-free vulnerability in the sctp_assoc_update function in net/sctp/associola.c in the Linux kernel before…
CVE-2014-2523 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_proto_dccp.c in the Linux kernel through 3.13.6 uses a DCCP header pointer incorrectly,…
CVE-2010-2495 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The pppol2tp_xmit function in drivers/net/pppol2tp.c in the L2TP implementation in the Linux kernel before 2.6.34 does…
CVE-2010-2521 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Multiple buffer overflows in fs/nfsd/nfs4xdr.c in the XDR implementation in the NFS server in the Linux kernel before…

All CVEs affecting Linux Linux Kernel →

Other CWE-131 (Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size) vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-52955 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: libceph: Fix potential out-of-bounds access in…
CVE-2026-41676 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): rust-openssl provides OpenSSL bindings for the Rust programming language. From 0.9.27 to before 0.10.78,…
CVE-2026-1949 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Delta Electronics AS320T has incorrect calculation of the buffer size on the stack in the GET/PUT request handler of…
CVE-2026-20911 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the HuffTable::initval functionality of LibRaw Commit 0b56545 and…
CVE-2025-1861 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In PHP from 8.1.* before 8.1.32, from 8.2.* before 8.2.28, from 8.3.* before 8.3.19, from 8.4.* before 8.4.5, when…
CVE-2023-5941 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In versions of FreeBSD 12.4-RELEASE prior to 12.4-RELEASE-p7 and FreeBSD 13.2-RELEASE prior to 13.2-RELEASE-p5 the…

Browse all CWE-131 (Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size) vulnerabilities →