CVE-2020-7212
7.5 · HIGHOverview
CVE-2020-7212 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting python urllib3. It was published on March 6, 2020 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
The _encode_invalid_chars function in util/url.py in the urllib3 library 1.25.2 through 1.25.7 for Python allows a denial of service (CPU consumption) because of an inefficient algorithm. The percent_encodings array contains all matches of percent encodings. It is not deduplicated. For a URL of length N, the size of percent_encodings may be up to O(N). The next step (normalize existing percent-encoded bytes) also takes up to O(N) for each step, so the total time is O(N^2). If percent_encodings were deduplicated, the time to compute _encode_invalid_chars would be O(kN), where k is at most 484 ((10+6*2)^2).
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from python. Update urllib3 to the latest patched version. 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.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| python | urllib3 | 1.25.2 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2020-7212?
CVE-2020-7212 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting python urllib3. It was published on March 6, 2020 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).
How severe is CVE-2020-7212?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2020-7212?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from python. Update urllib3 to the latest patched version. 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-2020-7212?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2020-7212 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
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