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CVE-2020-36163

9.3 · CRITICAL

An issue was discovered in Veritas NetBackup and OpsCenter through 8.3.0.1.

Published Jan 6, 2021EPSS 0.41%

Overview

CVE-2020-36163 is a critical-severity vulnerability. It was published on January 6, 2021 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.3 (CRITICAL).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.3, rated CRITICAL. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

Technical description

An issue was discovered in Veritas NetBackup and OpsCenter through 8.3.0.1. NetBackup processes using Strawberry Perl attempt to load and execute libraries from paths that do not exist by default on the Windows operating system. By default, on Windows systems, users can create directories under C:\. If a low privileged user on the Windows system creates an affected path with a library that NetBackup attempts to load, they can execute arbitrary code as SYSTEM or Administrator. This gives the attacker administrator access on the system, allowing the attacker (by default) to access all data, access all installed applications, etc. This affects NetBackup master servers, media servers, clients, and OpsCenter servers on the Windows platform. The system is vulnerable during an install or upgrade on all systems and post-install on Master, Media, and OpsCenter servers during normal operations.

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-36163?

CVE-2020-36163 is a critical-severity vulnerability. It was published on January 6, 2021 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.3 (CRITICAL).

How severe is CVE-2020-36163?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.3, rated CRITICAL. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2020-36163?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2020-36163?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2020-36163 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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