CVE-2020-11093 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-347 vulnerability in indy-node. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for indy-node — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Hyperledger Indy's update process of a DID does not check who signs the request
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-11093 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
indy-nodeReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Hyperledger Indy Node is the server portion of a distributed ledger purpose-built for decentralized identity. In Hyperledger Indy before version 1.12.4, there is lack of signature verification on a specific transaction which enables an attacker to make certain unauthorized alterations to the ledger. Updating a DID with a nym transaction will be written to the ledger if neither ROLE or VERKEY are being changed, regardless of sender. A malicious DID with no particular role can ask an update for another DID (but cannot modify its verkey or role). This is bad because 1) Any DID can write a nym transaction to the ledger (i.e., any DID can spam the ledger with nym transactions), 2) Any DID can change any other DID's alias, 3) The update transaction modifies the ledger metadata associated with a DID.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | indy-node | all versions | 1.12.4pip install --upgrade 'indy-node==1.12.4' |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for indy-node, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update indy-node to 1.12.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-11093 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2020-11093 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2020-11093. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-11093 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2020-11093 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.