# CVE-2020-11494: Information disclosure in n/a

> Attackers can read uninitialized kernel stack memory via the slcan driver if CONFIG_INIT_STACK_ALL is disabled, potentially exposing sensitive data.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Apr 2020
- **Updated:** 8 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2020-11494, GHSA-64rp-89cr-p8q9, LSN-0067-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-11494

## What is CVE-2020-11494?

CVE-2020-11494 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 2 Apr 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in slc_bump in drivers/net/can/slcan.c in the Linux kernel 3.16 through 5.6.2. It allows attackers to read uninitialized can_frame data, potentially containing sensitive information from kernel stack memory, if the configuration lacks CONFIG_INIT_STACK_ALL, aka CID-b9258a2cece4.

Weakness: CWE-909 (Missing Initialization of Resource), CWE-908 (Use of Uninitialized Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-11494?

It affects 4 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel, Opensuse Leap.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-11494?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2020-11494 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-11494 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-11494 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-11494 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 2 Apr 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-11494 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2020-11494/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11494/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-11494
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-11494
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-11494

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11494/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.