# CVE-2020-12845: Null dereference in n/a

> Remote unauthenticated attackers can crash the Cherokee web server by sending a malformed Authorization header, causing a null pointer dereference.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 Jul 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-g9j5-2x3f-77xp, MGASA-2021-0019

## What is CVE-2020-12845?

CVE-2020-12845 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 27 Jul 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Cherokee 0.4.27 to 1.2.104 is affected by a denial of service due to a NULL pointer dereferences. A remote unauthenticated attacker can crash the server by sending an HTTP request to protected resources using a malformed Authorization header that is mishandled during a cherokee_buffer_add call within cherokee_validator_parse_basic or cherokee_validator_parse_digest.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-12845?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cherokee-Project Cherokee.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-12845?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2020-12845 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-12845 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2019-20800](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20800/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-20798](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20798/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2019-20799](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20799/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2014-4668](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-4668/): Auth bypass in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2011-2191](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-2191/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-12845 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-12845 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 27 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-2020-12845 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2020-12845/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12845/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-12845
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-12845
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-12845

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12845/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.