How severe is CVE-2020-23804?

CVE-2020-23804 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2020-23804 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (55th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2020-23804?

CVE-2020-23804 primarily affects Freedesktop Poppler. In total, 2 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2020-23804?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

When was CVE-2020-23804 published?

CVE-2020-23804 was published on 2023-08-22 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2020-23804

CVE-2020-23804 is a high-severity vulnerability in Freedesktop Poppler with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5. 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-674.

Key facts

Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 7.5)
EPSS exploit prediction: 1% (55th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-674
Affected product: Freedesktop Poppler
Published: 2023-08-22
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

Uncontrolled Recursion in pdfinfo, and pdftops in poppler 0.89.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via crafted input.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-23804?: Uncontrolled Recursion in pdfinfo, and pdftops in poppler 0.89.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via crafted input.
How severe is CVE-2020-23804?: CVE-2020-23804 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2020-23804 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (55th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2020-23804?: CVE-2020-23804 primarily affects Freedesktop Poppler. In total, 2 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2020-23804?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2020-23804 published?: CVE-2020-23804 was published on 2023-08-22 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (2)

cpe:2.3:a:freedesktop:poppler:0.89.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Freedesktop Poppler

CVE-2019-9631 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Poppler 0.74.0 has a heap-based buffer over-read in the CairoRescaleBox.cc downsample_row_box_filter function.
CVE-2018-21009 — High (CVSS 8.8): Poppler before 0.66.0 has an integer overflow in Parser::makeStream in Parser.cc.
CVE-2019-12293 — High (CVSS 8.8): In Poppler through 0.76.1, there is a heap-based buffer over-read in JPXStream::init in JPEG2000Stream.cc via data with…
CVE-2019-10872 — High (CVSS 8.8): An issue was discovered in Poppler 0.74.0. There is a heap-based buffer over-read in the function…
CVE-2019-9545 — High (CVSS 8.8): An issue was discovered in Poppler 0.74.0. A recursive function call, in JBIG2Stream::readTextRegion() located in…
CVE-2019-9543 — High (CVSS 8.8): An issue was discovered in Poppler 0.74.0. A recursive function call, in JBIG2Stream::readGenericBitmap() located in…

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Other CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion) vulnerabilities

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CVE-2021-41752 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Stack overflow vulnerability in Jerryscript before commit e1ce7dd7271288be8c0c8136eea9107df73a8ce2 on Oct 20, 2021 due…
CVE-2018-1000618 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): EOSIO/eos eos version after commit f1545dd0ae2b77580c2236fdb70ae7138d2c7168 contains a stack overflow vulnerability in…
CVE-2025-10728 — Critical (CVSS 9.4): When the module renders a Svg file that contains a <pattern> element, it might end up rendering it recursively leading…
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