# CVE-2020-1971: EDIPARTYNAME NULL pointer dereference > An attacker can cause a denial of service by triggering a NULL pointer dereference in OpenSSL's GENERAL_NAME_cmp function via malicious certificates and CRLs. - **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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:** 8 Dec 2020 - **Updated:** 29 May 2026 - **Also known as:** A-175147055, ALPINE-CVE-2020-1971, BIT-node-2020-1971, BIT-node-min-2020-1971, CLEANSTART-2026-JE67710, CLSA-2020-1608724134, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-1971, DLA-2492-1, DLA-2493-1, DSA-4807-1, GHSA-whf2-mq76-2fhv, JLSEC-2026-220, MGASA-2020-0467, OESA-2021-1027, PUB-A-175147055, RHSA-2020:5422, RHSA-2020:5476, RHSA-2020:5566, RHSA-2020:5588, RHSA-2020:5623, RHSA-2020:5637, RHSA-2020:5639, RHSA-2020:5640, RHSA-2020:5641, RHSA-2020:5642, RHSA-2021:0056, RHSA-2021:0486, RHSA-2021:0489, SUSE-SU-2020:14560-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3720-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3721-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3722-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3732-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3740-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3762-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3763-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-1971, USN-4662-1, openSUSE-SU-2020:2223-1, openSUSE-SU-2020:2236-1, openSUSE-SU-2020:2245-1, openSUSE-SU-2020:2269-1 ## What is CVE-2020-1971? CVE-2020-1971 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 8 Dec 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim. ### Official description The X.509 GeneralName type is a generic type for representing different types of names. One of those name types is known as EDIPartyName. OpenSSL provides a function GENERAL_NAME_cmp which compares different instances of a GENERAL_NAME to see if they are equal or not. This function behaves incorrectly when both GENERAL_NAMEs contain an EDIPARTYNAME. A NULL pointer dereference and a crash may occur leading to a possible denial of service attack. OpenSSL itself uses the GENERAL_NAME_cmp function for two purposes: 1) Comparing CRL distribution point names between an available CRL and a CRL distribution point embedded in an X509 certificate 2) When verifying that a timestamp response token signer matches the timestamp authority name (exposed via the API functions TS_RESP_verify_response and TS_RESP_verify_token) If an attacker can control both items being compared then that attacker could trigger a crash. For example if the attacker can trick a client or server into checking a malicious certificate against a malicious CRL then this may occur. Note that some applications automatically download CRLs based on a URL embedded in a certificate. This checking happens prior to the signatures on the certificate and CRL being verified. OpenSSL's s_server, s_client and verify tools have support for the "-crl_download" option which implements automatic CRL downloading and this attack has been demonstrated to work against those tools. Note that an unrelated bug means that affected versions of OpenSSL cannot parse or construct correct encodings of EDIPARTYNAME. However it is possible to construct a malformed EDIPARTYNAME that OpenSSL's parser will accept and hence trigger this attack. All OpenSSL 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 versions are affected by this issue. Other OpenSSL releases are out of support and have not been checked. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1i (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1h). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2x (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2w). Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-1971? 2 open source packages ship an affected version, including node and node-min. It affects 44 products. | Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | `node` | Bitnami | From 10.13.0 | 10.23.1, 12.20.1, 14.15.4, 15.5.0 | | `node-min` | Bitnami | From 10.0.0 | 10.12.1, 10.23.1, 12.12.1, 12.20.1, 14.15.4, 15.5.0, 14.14.1 | | `openssl` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-perl` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-static` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::client | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-perl` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-static` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::computenode | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-perl` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-static` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-perl` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl-static` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::workstation | All versions | 1:1.0.2k-21.el7_9 | | `openssl` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:1.1.1g-12.el8_3 | | `openssl-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:1.1.1g-12.el8_3 | | `openssl-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:1.1.1g-12.el8_3 | | `openssl-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:1.1.1g-12.el8_3 | | `openssl-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:1.1.1g-12.el8_3 | | `openssl-libs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:1.1.1g-12.el8_3 | | `openssl-perl` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::baseos | All versions | 1:1.1.1g-12.el8_3 | | `jbcs-httpd24-brotli` | Red Hat:jboss_core_services:1::el7 | All versions | 0:1.0.6-40.jbcs.el7 | | `jbcs-httpd24-brotli-debuginfo` | Red Hat:jboss_core_services:1::el7 | All versions | 0:1.0.6-40.jbcs.el7 | | `jbcs-httpd24-brotli-devel` | Red Hat:jboss_core_services:1::el7 | All versions | 0:1.0.6-40.jbcs.el7 | | `jbcs-httpd24-httpd` | Red Hat:jboss_core_services:1::el7 | All versions | 0:2.4.37-66.jbcs.el7 | | `jbcs-httpd24-httpd-debuginfo` | Red Hat:jboss_core_services:1::el7 | All versions | 0:2.4.37-66.jbcs.el7 | | `jbcs-httpd24-httpd-devel` | Red Hat:jboss_core_services:1::el7 | All versions | 0:2.4.37-66.jbcs.el7 | | `jbcs-httpd24-httpd-manual` | Red Hat:jboss_core_services:1::el7 | All versions | 0:2.4.37-66.jbcs.el7 | | `jbcs-httpd24-httpd-selinux` | Red Hat:jboss_core_services:1::el7 | All versions | 0:2.4.37-66.jbcs.el7 | | `jbcs-httpd24-httpd-tools` | Red Hat:jboss_core_services:1::el7 | All versions | 0:2.4.37-66.jbcs.el7 | Products: Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Netapp Active Iq Unified Manager, Netapp Aff A250 Firmware, Netapp Clustered Data Ontap Antivirus Connector, Netapp Data Ontap, Netapp E-Series Santricity Os Controller, Netapp Ef600a Firmware, Netapp Hci Compute Node, Netapp Hci Management Node, Netapp Hci Storage Node, Netapp Manageability Software Development Kit, Netapp Oncommand Insight, Netapp Oncommand Workflow Automation, Netapp Plug-in for Symantec Netbackup, Netapp Santricity Smi-S Provider, Netapp Snapcenter, Netapp Solidfire, Nodejs Node.js, Openssl Openssl and 24 more. ## How do I fix CVE-2020-1971? Upgrade node to a fixed version for your release line: 10.23.1, 12.20.1, 14.15.4 or 15.5.0. ## Is CVE-2020-1971 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-1971 in the wild and no public exploit code. Public exploit code: - CVE-2020-1971 Auto Scan & Remote Exploit Script. Auto Local Scan & Patch Script. (github_poc): https://github.com/MBHudson/CVE-2020-1971 ## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux - [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2020-1971 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2020-1971 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 8 Dec 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-2020-1971 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected packages and fixed versions: - node (Bitnami): affected from 10.13.0; fixed in 10.23.1, 12.20.1, 14.15.4, 15.5.0 - node-min (Bitnami): affected from 10.0.0; fixed in 10.12.1, 10.23.1, 12.12.1, 12.20.1, 14.15.4, 15.5.0, 14.14.1 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-2020-1971/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1971/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-1971 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-1971 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-1971 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-1971/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.