# CVE-2020-4089: Information disclosure in HCL Notes

> Attackers can leak local or network files via the mailto protocol in HCL Notes, exposing sensitive user data.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 26 Jun 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-86j9-2vjw-f9pp

## What is CVE-2020-4089?

CVE-2020-4089 is a medium-severity vulnerability in HCL Notes, published on 26 Jun 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

HCL Notes is vulnerable to an information leakage vulnerability through its support for the 'mailto' protocol. This vulnerability could result in files from the user's filesystem or connected network filesystems being leaked to a third party. All versions of HCL Notes 9, 10 and 11 are affected.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-4089?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Hcltech Notes.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-4089?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-4089 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-4089 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-4089 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in HCL Notes

- [CVE-2022-44751](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-44751/): HCL Notes is susceptible to a stack based buffer overflow vulnerability in lasr.dll in Micro Focus KeyView (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-44753](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-44753/): HCL Notes is susceptible to a stack based buffer overflow vulnerability in wp6sr.dll in Micro Focus KeyView (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-44755](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-44755/): HCL Notes is susceptible to a stack based buffer overflow vulnerability in lasr.dll in Micro Focus KeyView (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-14224](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14224/): Memory corruption in HCL Notes (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-14268](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-14268/): Memory corruption in HCL Notes (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-4089 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-4089 is a medium-severity vulnerability in HCL Notes, published on 26 Jun 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-4089 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: HCL Notes. 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-2020-4089/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4089/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-4089
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-4089
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-4089

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4089/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.