CVE-2020-11899
Out-of-bounds Read in The Treck TCP/IP stack before 6
Executive Summary
CVE-2020-11899 is a medium severity vulnerability affecting binary-analysis. It is classified as Out-of-bounds Read. This vulnerability is actively being exploited in the wild.
Precogs AI Insight
"The Treck TCP/IP stack contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability when processing malformed IPv6 packets, lacking proper length validation. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can send a crafted packet to cause a critical memory read violation, resulting in a denial of service or information disclosure. Precogs Binary SAST engine explicitly uncovers memory boundary violations in core networking stacks."
What is this vulnerability?
CVE-2020-11899 is categorized as a medium Out-of-bounds Read flaw with a CVSS base score of 5.4. Based on our vulnerability intelligence, this issue occurs when the application fails to securely handle untrusted data boundaries.
The Treck TCP/IP stack before 6.0.1.66 has an IPv6 Out-of-bounds Read.
This architectural defect enables adversaries to bypass intended security controls, directly manipulating the application's execution state or data layer. Immediate strategic intervention is required.
Risk Assessment
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| CVSS Base Score | 5.4 (MEDIUM) |
| Vector String | CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L |
| Published | June 17, 2020 |
| Last Modified | November 7, 2025 |
| Related CWEs | CWE-125, CWE-125 |
Impact on Systems
✅ Remote Code Execution: Attackers can overwrite the instruction pointer to redirect execution to malicious shellcode.
✅ Memory Corruption: Overwriting adjacent memory regions can corrupt critical application state, leading to privilege escalation.
✅ Denial of Service: Triggering segmentation faults results in immediate disruption of critical systems.
How to Fix and Mitigate CVE-2020-11899
- Apply Vendor Patches Immediately: This vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Apply updates per vendor instructions.
- Verify Patch Deployment: Confirm all instances are updated using Precogs continuous monitoring.
- Review Audit Logs: Investigate historical access logs for indicators of compromise related to this attack surface.
- Implement Defense-in-Depth: Deploy WAF rules, network segmentation, and endpoint detection to limit blast radius.
Defending with Precogs AI
Precogs Binary SAST/DAST engine performs deep structural analysis of compiled binaries, detecting memory corruption, control-flow hijacking, and privilege escalation vulnerabilities without requiring source code access.
Use Precogs to continuously scan your codebase, binaries, APIs, and infrastructure for this vulnerability class and related attack patterns. Our AI-powered detection engine combines static analysis with threat intelligence to identify exploitable weaknesses before attackers do.
Vulnerability Code Signature
Attack Data Flow
| Stage | Detail |
|---|---|
| Source | Network packet or file input |
| Vector | Read operation extends beyond the allocated buffer bounds |
| Sink | memcpy(), strlen(), or pointer arithmetic |
| Impact | Information disclosure, memory leak, denial of service |
Vulnerable Code Pattern
// ❌ VULNERABLE: Out-of-bounds read
void read_data(char *input, int length) {
char buffer[64] = {0};
// Taint sink: reads beyond buffer size if length > 64
memcpy(buffer, input, length);
}
Secure Code Pattern
// ✅ SECURE: Bounded read
void read_data(char *input, int length) {
char buffer[64] = {0};
// Sanitized boundary check
int safe_length = (length > sizeof(buffer)) ? sizeof(buffer) : length;
memcpy(buffer, input, safe_length);
}
How Precogs Detects This
Precogs Binary SAST engine explicitly uncovers memory boundary violations and unsafe memory management functions in compiled binaries.\n