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Critical

Security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVCVE: CVE-2020-8445

In OSSEC-HIDS 2.7 through 3.5.0, the OS_CleanMSG function in ossec-analysisd doesn't remove or encode terminal control characters or newlines from processed log messages. In many cases, those characters are later logged. Because newlines (\n) are permitted in messages processed by ossec-analysisd, it may be possible to inject nested events into the ossec log. Use of terminal control characters may allow obfuscating events or executing commands when viewed through vulnerable terminal emulators. This may be an unauthenticated remote attack for certain types and origins of logged data.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2020-8445
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
31 Oct 2026, 11:14 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

CVE-2020-8445

core-osv · Original source

Published 30 Jan 2020, 01:15 UTC

In OSSEC-HIDS 2.7 through 3.5.0, the OS_CleanMSG function in ossec-analysisd doesn't remove or encode terminal control characters or newlines from processed log messages. In many cases, those characters are later logged. Because newlines (\n) are permitted in messages processed by ossec-analysisd, it may be possible to inject nested events into the ossec log. Use of terminal control characters may allow obfuscating events or executing commands when viewed through vulnerable terminal emulators. This may be an unauthenticated remote attack for certain types and origins of logged data.

osv:CVE-2020-8445
Complete source record
{
  "id": "3fc056c54feb566d94656c508e54e01a49868d3b0c9335ce9dc435ef8a0d42b6",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-8445",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "CVE-2020-8445",
    "summary": "In OSSEC-HIDS 2.7 through 3.5.0, the OS_CleanMSG function in ossec-analysisd doesn't remove or encode terminal control characters or newlines from processed log messages. In many cases, those characters are later logged. Because newlines (\\n) are permitted in messages processed by ossec-analysisd, it may be possible to inject nested events into the ossec log. Use of terminal control characters may allow obfuscating events or executing commands when viewed through vulnerable terminal emulators. This may be an unauthenticated remote attack for certain types and origins of logged data.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2020-8445",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "critical",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2020-8445",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2020-8445"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/ossec/ossec-hids",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "ec19fd9e712e8ee710ec7d29b9f1476a95913db8"
                },
                {
                  "last_affected": "b1d087f83cd9693841f2baeede532397fbfa2d03"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:ossec:ossec:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "2.7"
                      },
                      {
                        "last_affected": "3.5.0"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "3.5.0",
            "3.4.0",
            "3.3.0",
            "3.2.0",
            "3.1.0",
            "3.0beta03",
            "3.0.0",
            "3.0beta2",
            "3.0beta02",
            "3.0beta01",
            "v2.9.0beta05",
            "2.9.0-beta03",
            "2.9.0-beta02",
            "2.9.0-beta01",
            "snapshot/20150112",
            "v2.8.0",
            "v2.7.1",
            "v2.7"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2020-8445.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-20T10:53:31.772284359Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/ossec/ossec-hids/issues/1814",
        "https://github.com/ossec/ossec-hids/issues/1821",
        "https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202007-33",
        "https://www.ossec.net/"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {}
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2020-8445",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 384399,
  "published_at": "2020-01-30T01:15:10.917+00:00"
}