How severe is CVE-2020-14871?

CVE-2020-14871 has a CVSS score of 10/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which products are affected by CVE-2020-14871?

Affected package information for CVE-2020-14871 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I patch CVE-2020-14871?

No patch has shipped for CVE-2020-14871 yet — track the oracle solaris advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds below in the meantime.

How do I detect CVE-2020-14871 across my infrastructure?

Inventory every oracle solaris deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above. Because the exploit targets the running system rather than your application code, also watch for exploitation at the network and runtime layer — O3 flags the exploit behaviour from runtime telemetry and egress traffic even before a vulnerable build is confirmed.

How do I mitigate CVE-2020-14871 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Cut exposure now: restrict the management/admin interface to trusted networks, segment the device, and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations and any WAF/IPS signature. O3's runtime protection blocks the exploit chain at execution, holding the line on unpatched or end-of-life systems until you can patch.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2020-14871?

O3 detects and blocks CVE-2020-14871 exploitation at runtime: eBPF exploit-chain detection, plus L7 egress monitoring that catches the post-exploitation callback and severs the attacker's outbound channel.

Is CVE-2020-14871 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 8 known exploit references for CVE-2020-14871, including 3 documented proof-of-concept exploits on Exploit-DB and 5 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-14871?

CVE-2020-14871 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 79.8%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2020-14871 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2020-14871 (Oracle Solaris and Zettabyte File System (ZFS) Unspecified Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2021-11-03. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-05-03. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-14871?

CVE-2020-14871 is classified as Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2020-14871?

CVE-2020-14871 affects oracle solaris (2 versions, e.g. 10, 11). Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2020-14871 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-14871 was published on October 21, 2020 and was last updated on October 21, 2025. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2021-11-03 — agencies required to remediate by 2022-05-03

CVE-2020-14871

CRITICAL

Vulnerability in the Oracle Solaris product of Oracle Systems (component: Pluggable authentication module). Supported versions that are affected are 10 and 11. Easily exploitable vulnerability…

Published

Oct 21, 2020

Updated

Oct 21, 2025

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

8 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

79.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk100th percentile-0.45%

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.

Description

Vulnerability in the Oracle Solaris product of Oracle Systems (component: Pluggable authentication module). Supported versions that are affected are 10 and 11. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated attacker with network access via multiple protocols to compromise Oracle Solaris. While the vulnerability is in Oracle Solaris, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle Solaris. Note: This CVE is not exploitable for Solaris 11.1 and later releases, and ZFSSA 8.7 and later releases, thus the CVSS Base Score is 0.0. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 10.0 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Affected Products

1 product · 2 configurations

solarisoracle

2 versions

1011

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-49896remotesolaris

Solaris SunSSH 11.0 x86 - libpam Remote Root (2)

by legend · May 21, 2021

Exploit-DB Source

EDB-49261remotesolaris

Solaris SunSSH 11.0 x86 - libpam Remote Root

by Hacker Fantastic · Dec 15, 2020

Exploit-DB Source

EDB-50039remotesolaris

Solaris SunSSH 11.0 x86 - libpam Remote Root (3)

by Nathaniel Singer · Jun 21, 2021

Exploit-DB Source

Detection & mitigation playbook

Vendor / appliance

Detect
Inventory every oracle solaris deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above. Because the exploit targets the running system rather than your application code, also watch for exploitation at the network and runtime layer — O3 flags the exploit behaviour from runtime telemetry and egress traffic even before a vulnerable build is confirmed.
Remediation status
No patch has shipped for CVE-2020-14871 yet — track the oracle solaris advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
Cut exposure now: restrict the management/admin interface to trusted networks, segment the device, and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations and any WAF/IPS signature. O3's runtime protection blocks the exploit chain at execution, holding the line on unpatched or end-of-life systems until you can patch.
How O3 protects you
O3 detects and blocks CVE-2020-14871 exploitation at runtime: eBPF exploit-chain detection, plus L7 egress monitoring that catches the post-exploitation callback and severs the attacker's outbound channel.

Tailored to CVE-2020-14871. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Runtime Protection

Is CVE-2020-14871 being exploited in your environment?

O3's eBPF runtime sensors and L7 egress monitoring detect and block the CVE-2020-14871 exploit chain at execution — protecting unpatched and end-of-life systems until the vendor patch is applied.

Protect my workloads How runtime protection works

CVE-2020-14871

EPSS Exploitation Probability

Description

Affected Products

Detection & mitigation playbook

Detect

Remediation status

Mitigate without a patch

How O3 protects you

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CVE-2020-14871 being exploited in your environment?