CVE-2020-29652 — crypto
HIGHCVE-2020-29652 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in golang.org/x/crypto. A fix is available for golang.org/x/crypto — see the affected versions and patch details below.
golang.org/x/crypto/ssh NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability
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-2020-29652 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
golang.org/x/cryptoReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
A nil pointer dereference in the golang.org/x/crypto/ssh component through v0.0.0-20201203163018-be400aefbc4c for Go allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service against SSH servers.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | golang.org/x/crypto | all versions | 0.0.0-20201216223049-8b5274cf687fgo get golang.org/x/crypto@v0.0.0-20201216223049-8b5274cf687f |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for golang.org/x/crypto, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update golang.org/x/crypto to 0.0.0-20201216223049-8b5274cf687f or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-29652 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-2020-29652 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2020-29652. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
A large number of products include the affected package, but do not make use of the vulnerable SSH server code. Accordingly, the flaw itself is rated as "Important", but these products themselves all have a "Low" severity rating. Additionally, a number of products include golang.org/x/crypto (or even…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | container-tools:rhel8-8040020210407081426.59631bd5 | RHSA-2021:1796 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.7 | openshift4/ose-aws-ebs-csi-driver-rhel8:v4.7.0-202102130115.p0 | RHSA-2020:5633 |
| RHEL-8-CNV-4.8 | container-native-virtualization/vm-import-operator-rhel8:v4.8.0-18 | RHSA-2021:2920 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-29652 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2020-29652 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.