# CVE-2020-5812: Security feature bypass in Tenable Nessus AMI

> Attackers can spoof trusted entities via man-in-the-middle attacks due to improper certificate validation in Nessus AMI.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Feb 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w929-59q2-gfxf

## What is CVE-2020-5812?

CVE-2020-5812 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Tenable Nessus AMI, published on 5 Feb 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Nessus AMI versions 8.12.0 and earlier were found to either not validate, or incorrectly validate, a certificate which could allow an attacker to spoof a trusted entity by using a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-5812?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Tenable Nessus Amazon Machine Image.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-5812?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-5812 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-5812 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5812 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-5812 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-5812 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Tenable Nessus AMI, published on 5 Feb 2021. 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-2020-5812 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Tenable Nessus AMI. 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-2020-5812/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5812/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-5812
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5812
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-5812

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5812/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.