CVE-2020-6173
Client Denial of Service on TUF
CVE-2020-6173 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.3) in Linuxfoundation The Update Framework, published January 14, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.76%, the 77th percentile. Fixed in tuf 0.12.2.
TUF (aka The Update Framework) 0.7.2 through 0.12.1 allows Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
TUF (aka The Update Framework) 0.7.2 through 0.12.1 allows Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
- Record
CVE-2020-6173- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - CVSS 2.0
- 5.0 Medium
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
TUF (aka The Update Framework) 0.7.2 through 0.12.1 allows Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
- Record
CVE-2020-6173- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-0225 No score
TUF (aka The Update Framework) 0.7.2 through 0.12.1 allows Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
- Record
EUVD-2020-0225- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-2828-9vh6-9m6j
Client Denial of Service on TUF
Impact
An attacker who can gain file access to the repository and modify metadata files may cause a denial of service to clients by creating many invalid signatures on a metadata file. Having a large number of signatures to verify will delay the moment when the client will determine the signature is not valid. This delay may be for at least a few minutes, but possibly could be longer especially if multiple files are impacted.
The tuf maintainers would like to thank Erik MacLean of Analog Devices, Inc. for reporting this issue.
Patches
No fix exists for this issue.
Workarounds
No workarounds are known for this issue.
References
- Record
GHSA-2828-9vh6-9m6j- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
TUF (aka The Update Framework) 0.7.2 through 0.12.1 allows Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
- Record
CVE-2020-6173- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-2828-9vh6-9m6j
Client Denial of Service on TUF
Impact
An attacker who can gain file access to the repository and modify metadata files may cause a denial of service to clients by creating many invalid signatures on a metadata file. Having a large number of signatures to verify will delay the moment when the client will determine the signature is not valid. This delay may be for at least a few minutes, but possibly could be longer especially if multiple files are impacted.
The tuf maintainers would like to thank Erik MacLean of Analog Devices, Inc. for reporting this issue.
Patches
No fix exists for this issue.
Workarounds
No workarounds are known for this issue.
References
- Record
GHSA-2828-9vh6-9m6j- CVSS 4.0
- 6.9 Medium
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-400
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2020-146 No score
TUF (aka The Update Framework) 0.7.2 through 0.12.1 allows Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
- Record
PYSEC-2020-146- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
tufPyPI |
0.7.2 up to 0.12.2 | 0.12.2 |
tufPyPI |
0.7.2 up to 0.12.2, plus listed versions 0.10.00.10.10.10.20.11.00.11.1 Show 12 moreShow less0.11.2.dev10.11.2.dev20.11.2.dev30.11.dev00.12.00.12.10.12.dev00.12.dev10.12.dev20.7.50.9.80.9.9 |
0.12.2 |
tufPyPI |
0.7.5 up to 0.12.2, plus listed versions 0.9.80.9.90.10.00.10.10.10.2 Show 11 moreShow less0.11.dev00.11.00.11.10.11.2.dev10.11.2.dev20.11.2.dev30.12.dev00.12.dev10.12.dev20.12.00.12.1 |
0.12.2 |
History
| When | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-03 | aliases | EUVD |
| 2026-11-02 | created | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
References
github.com/theupdateframework/tuf/commits/develop
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-6173