# CVE-2020-17489: Information disclosure in n/a

> An attacker with physical access can view a user's cleartext password briefly during logout if the user previously chose to display it.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 11 Aug 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALSA-2022:1814, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-17489, DLA-2374-1, GHSA-vfpj-rcwj-86vm, MGASA-2021-0316, OESA-2021-1152, RHSA-2022:1814, RLSA-2022:1814, SUSE-SU-2020:3132-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-17489, USN-4464-1, openSUSE-SU-2020:1861-1

## What is CVE-2020-17489?

CVE-2020-17489 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 11 Aug 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in certain configurations of GNOME gnome-shell through 3.36.4. When logging out of an account, the password box from the login dialog reappears with the password still visible. If the user had decided to have the password shown in cleartext at login time, it is then visible for a brief moment upon a logout. (If the password were never shown in cleartext, only the password length is revealed.)

Weakness: CWE-522 (Insufficiently Protected Credentials)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-17489?

It affects 4 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `gnome-shell` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 3.32.2-44.el8 |
| `gnome-shell` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:3.32.2-44.el8 |
| `gnome-shell-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:3.32.2-44.el8 |
| `gnome-shell-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:3.32.2-44.el8 |
| `gnome-shell` | Rocky Linux:8 | All versions | 0:3.32.2-44.el8 |
| `gnome-settings-daemon` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP2 | All versions | 3.34.2+0-4.3.1 |
| `gnome-shell` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP2 | All versions | 3.34.5-3.13.1 |
| `gnome-shell` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP2 | All versions | 3.34.5-3.13.1 |
| `gnome-settings-daemon` | openSUSE:Leap 15.2 | All versions | 3.34.2+0-lp152.3.3.1 |
| `gnome-shell` | openSUSE:Leap 15.2 | All versions | 3.34.5-lp152.2.9.1 |

Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Gnome Gnome-Shell, Opensuse Leap.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-17489?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2020-17489 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-17489 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-2020-17489 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-17489 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 11 Aug 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-17489 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-2020-17489/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-17489/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-17489
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-17489
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-17489

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-17489/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.