# CVE-2020-10725: Null dereference in dpdk

> A malicious guest can crash the host's vhost-user backend via a missing descriptor check, causing denial of service for other guests.

- **Severity:** High 7.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 20 May 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2020-10725, GHSA-rccg-5mcc-m2cf, RHSA-2021:1239, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-10725

## What is CVE-2020-10725?

CVE-2020-10725 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 20 May 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in DPDK version 19.11 and above that allows a malicious guest to cause a segmentation fault of the vhost-user backend application running on the host, which could result in a loss of connectivity for the other guests running on that host. This is caused by a missing validity check of the descriptor address in the function `virtio_dev_rx_batch_packed()`.

Weakness: CWE-665 (Improper Initialization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-10725?

It affects 4 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `dpdk` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.2::appstream | All versions | 0:19.11-5.el8_2 |
| `dpdk-debuginfo` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.2::appstream | All versions | 0:19.11-5.el8_2 |
| `dpdk-debugsource` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.2::appstream | All versions | 0:19.11-5.el8_2 |
| `dpdk-devel` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.2::appstream | All versions | 0:19.11-5.el8_2 |
| `dpdk-devel-debuginfo` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.2::appstream | All versions | 0:19.11-5.el8_2 |
| `dpdk-doc` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.2::appstream | All versions | 0:19.11-5.el8_2 |
| `dpdk-tools` | Red Hat:rhel_eus:8.2::appstream | All versions | 0:19.11-5.el8_2 |

Products: Dpdk Data Plane Development Kit, Fedoraproject Fedora, Opensuse Leap, Oracle Enterprise Communications Broker.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-10725?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2020-10725 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10725 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2021-3839](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3839/): Memory corruption in dpdk (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2019-14818](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14818/): Denial of service in dpdk (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2022-0669](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0669/): Denial of service in DPDK (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2020-10726](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10726/): Denial of service in dpdk (medium 6.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-10725 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-10725 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 20 May 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10725 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. 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-2020-10725/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10725/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-10725
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-10725
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-10725

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10725/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.