# CVE-2020-25654: Auth bypass in pacemaker

> Local attackers in the haclient group can bypass ACLs via IPC to perform restricted cluster tasks, requiring patching of Pacemaker.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Nov 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALSA-2020:5487, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25654, DSA-4791-1, GHSA-3q2f-h5rm-7qv7, MGASA-2020-0409, OESA-2022-1900, OESA-2022-1901, RHSA-2020:5423, RHSA-2020:5453, RHSA-2020:5487, SUSE-SU-2020:3054-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3073-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3080-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3086-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3089-1, SUSE-SU-2020:3094-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-25654, USN-4623-1, openSUSE-SU-2020:1782-1, openSUSE-SU-2020:1825-1

## What is CVE-2020-25654?

CVE-2020-25654 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 24 Nov 2020. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An ACL bypass flaw was found in pacemaker. An attacker having a local account on the cluster and in the haclient group could use IPC communication with various daemons directly to perform certain tasks that they would be prevented by ACLs from doing if they went through the configuration.

Weakness: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-25654?

It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `pacemaker` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-cli` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-cts` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-doc` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-libs-devel` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-nagios-plugins-metadata` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-remote` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker-cli` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker-cluster-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker-cts` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker-doc` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker-libs-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker-nagios-plugins-metadata` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker-remote` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 0:1.1.23-1.el7_9.1 |
| `pacemaker` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-cli-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-cluster-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-cluster-libs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-libs` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-libs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-remote-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-schemas` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-cli` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-cli-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-cluster-libs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-cts` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-doc` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-libs-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-libs-devel` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-nagios-plugins-metadata` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-remote` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |
| `pacemaker-remote-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::highavailability | All versions | 0:2.0.4-6.el8_3.1 |

Products: Clusterlabs Pacemaker, Debian Debian Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-25654?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2020-25654 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-25654 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2016-7035](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7035/): Missing authorization in pacemaker (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-7797](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7797/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2015-1867](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1867/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2011-5271](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-5271/): Path traversal in n/a (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2013-0281](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-0281/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 4.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-25654 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-25654 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 24 Nov 2020. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-25654 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian 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-2020-25654/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-25654/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-25654
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-25654
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-25654

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-25654/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.