# CVE-2020-15114: Denial of Service in etcd

> Attackers can cause a denial of service in etcd gateway by configuring the gateway address as an endpoint, leading to resource exhaustion.

- **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:** 6 Aug 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** AZL-6391, CLEANSTART-2025-GT80206, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-15114, GHSA-2xhq-gv6c-p224, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-15114

## What is CVE-2020-15114?

CVE-2020-15114 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 6 Aug 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In etcd before versions 3.3.23 and 3.4.10, the etcd gateway is a simple TCP proxy to allow for basic service discovery and access. However, it is possible to include the gateway address as an endpoint. This results in a denial of service, since the endpoint can become stuck in a loop of requesting itself until there are no more available file descriptors to accept connections on the gateway.

Weakness: CWE-772 (Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime), CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-15114?

4 open source packages ship an affected version, including go.etcd.io/etcd. It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `go.etcd.io/etcd` | Go | All versions | 3.3.23 |
| `go.etcd.io/etcd` | Go | All versions | 3.3.23 |
| `go.etcd.io/etcd` | Go | From 3.4.0-rc.0 | 3.4.10 |
| `go.etcd.io/etcd` | Go | From 3.4.0-rc.0 | 3.4.10 |

Products: Fedoraproject Fedora, Redhat Etcd.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-15114?

Upgrade go.etcd.io/etcd to a fixed version for your release line: 3.3.23 or 3.4.10.

## Is CVE-2020-15114 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-15114 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2024-4577](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4577/): PHP-CGI OS Command Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-39226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39226/): Grafana Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-5544](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5544/): VMware ESXi and Horizon DaaS OpenSLP Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4947](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4947/): Google Chromium V8 Type Confusion (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4671/): Google Chromium Visuals Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-15114 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-15114 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 6 Aug 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-2020-15114 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- go.etcd.io/etcd (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 3.3.23
- go.etcd.io/etcd (Go): affected all versions; fixed in 3.3.23
- go.etcd.io/etcd (Go): affected from 3.4.0-rc.0; fixed in 3.4.10
- go.etcd.io/etcd (Go): affected from 3.4.0-rc.0; fixed in 3.4.10

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-2020-15114/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-15114/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-15114
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-15114
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-15114

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-15114/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.