# CVE-2020-5422: UAA password may appear in BOSH System Metrics Server process arguments

> Attackers with local access can read the UAA password from process arguments, compromising cloud infrastructure credentials.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 2 Oct 2020
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-v9qc-85w7-58x4

## What is CVE-2020-5422?

CVE-2020-5422 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cloud Foundry BOSH System Metrics Server, published on 2 Oct 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

BOSH System Metrics Server releases prior to 0.1.0 exposed the UAA password as a flag to a process running on the BOSH director. It exposed the password to any user or process with access to the same VM (through ps or looking at process details).

Weakness: CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere), CWE-214 (Invocation of Process Using Visible Sensitive Information)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-5422?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cloud Foundry Bosh System Metrics Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-5422?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-5422 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-5422 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5422 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-5422 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-5422 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cloud Foundry BOSH System Metrics Server, published on 2 Oct 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5422 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Cloud Foundry BOSH System Metrics Server. 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-2020-5422/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5422/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-5422
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5422
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-5422

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5422/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.