CVE-2020-17489
4.3 · MEDIUMOverview
CVE-2020-17489 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting gnome gnome-shell. It was published on August 11, 2020 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.3 (MEDIUM).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.3, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
An issue was discovered in certain configurations of GNOME gnome-shell through 3.36.4. When logging out of an account, the password box from the login dialog reappears with the password still visible. If the user had decided to have the password shown in cleartext at login time, it is then visible for a brief moment upon a logout. (If the password were never shown in cleartext, only the password length is revealed.)
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from gnome. Update gnome-shell to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| gnome | gnome-shell | 0 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2020-17489?
CVE-2020-17489 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting gnome gnome-shell. It was published on August 11, 2020 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.3 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2020-17489?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.3, rated MEDIUM. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2020-17489?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from gnome. Update gnome-shell to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2020-17489?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2020-17489 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
AI agents map your attack surface to find vulnerabilities like this one.
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