# CVE-2020-4411: Denial of service in Spectrum Scale

> A local attacker can crash the kernel by invoking specific ioctls with invalid arguments in the IBM Spectrum Scale file system component.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AC:L/I:N/C:N/UI:N/PR:N/AV:L/S:C/A:H/RL:O/E:U/RC:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 May 2020
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-fv83-f7r2-29wc

## What is CVE-2020-4411?

CVE-2020-4411 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Ibm Spectrum Scale, published on 19 May 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Spectrum Scale 4.2.0.0 through 4.2.3.21 and 5.0.0.0 through 5.0.4.3 file system component is affected by a denial of service vulnerability in its kernel module that could allow an attacker to cause a denial of service condition on the affected system. To exploit this vulnerability, a local attacker could invoke a subset of ioctls on the Spectrum Scale device with non-valid arguments. This could allow the attacker to crash the kernel. IBM X-Force ID: 179986.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-4411?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ibm Spectrum Scale.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-4411?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-4411 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-4411 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-4411 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Ibm Spectrum Scale

- [CVE-2019-4715](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-4715/): Command injection in Spectrum Scale (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-29740](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-29740/): Other in Spectrum Scale (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2019-4558](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-4558/): Privilege escalation in Spectrum Scale (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2020-4217](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4217/): Denial of service in Spectrum Scale (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-4273](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4273/): Command injection in Spectrum Scale (high 7.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-4411 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-4411 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Ibm Spectrum Scale, published on 19 May 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-4411 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Ibm Spectrum Scale. 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-2020-4411/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4411/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-4411
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-4411
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-4411

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4411/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.