# CVE-2020-10282: RVD#3316: No authentication in MAVLink protocol

> The MAVLink protocol lacks authentication, allowing attackers to spoof identities and gain unauthorized access to drone systems.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Jul 2020
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-cjmc-hc9f-gvg8

## What is CVE-2020-10282?

CVE-2020-10282 is a critical missing authorization vulnerability in unspecified MAVLink, published on 3 Jul 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Micro Air Vehicle Link (MAVLink) protocol presents no authentication mechanism on its version 1.0 (nor authorization) whichs leads to a variety of attacks including identity spoofing, unauthorized access, PITM attacks and more. According to literature, version 2.0 optionally allows for package signing which mitigates this flaw. Another source mentions that MAVLink 2.0 only provides a simple authentication system based on HMAC. This implies that the flying system overall should add the same symmetric key into all devices of network. If not the case, this may cause a security issue, that if one of the devices and its symmetric key are compromised, the whole authentication system is not reliable.

Weakness: CWE-306 (Missing Authentication for Critical Functionality)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-10282?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Dronecode Micro Air Vehicle Link.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-10282?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-10282 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-10282 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10282 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in unspecified MAVLink

- [CVE-2020-10283](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10283/): RVD#3317: MAVLink version handshaking allows for an attacker to bypass authentication (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2020-10281](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10281/): RVD#3315: Cleartext transmission of sensitive information in MAVLink protocol version 1.0 and 2.0 (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-10282 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-10282 is a critical missing authorization vulnerability in unspecified MAVLink, published on 3 Jul 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10282 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: unspecified MAVLink. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10282/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10282/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-10282
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-10282
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-10282

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10282/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.