CVE-2020-12271

Sophos SFOS SQL Injection

9.8 CRITICALActively exploited (CISA KEV)Used in ransomwarePublic exploitEPSS 42.4%

Published27 Apr 2020
Added to CISA KEV3 Nov 2021
Remediation due3 May 2022

Sophos Firewall operating system (SFOS) firmware contains a SQL injection vulnerability when configured with either the administration (HTTPS) service or the User Portal is exposed on the WAN zone. Successful exploitation may cause remote code execution to exfiltrate usernames and hashed passwords for the local device admin(s), portal admins, and user accounts used for remote access (but not external Active Directory or LDAP passwords).

Added to KEV: 3 Nov 2021Federal remediation due: 3 May 2022Used in ransomware

Description

A SQL injection issue was found in SFOS 17.0, 17.1, 17.5, and 18.0 before 2020-04-25 on Sophos XG Firewall devices, as exploited in the wild in April 2020. This affected devices configured with either the administration (HTTPS) service or the User Portal exposed on the WAN zone. A successful attack may have caused remote code execution that exfiltrated usernames and hashed passwords for the local device admin(s), portal admins, and user accounts used for remote access (but not external Active Directory or LDAP passwords)

CVSS 3.1 breakdown

Attack vectorNetwork

Attack complexityLow

Privileges requiredNone

User interactionNone

ScopeUnchanged

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

Sophos Sfos17.0 · 17.1 · 17.5 · 18.0

Remediation

No fixed version is recorded in the NVD data. Check the vendor advisory for the latest guidance.

Patch & vendor advisories

References

https://community.sophos.com/kb/en-us/135412Vendor Advisory
https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/89.htmlThird Party Advisory
https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2020/04/26/asnarok/ExploitVendor Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-12271US Government Resource

Related CVEs

Recent high-severity vulnerabilities sharing a weakness type.

Frequently asked

Is CVE-2020-12271 being actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2020-12271 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, added 3 Nov 2021. It has been used in ransomware campaigns.

How severe is CVE-2020-12271?

CVE-2020-12271 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, rated critical. EPSS estimates a 42.4% probability of exploitation.

Which products are affected by CVE-2020-12271?

Affected products include Sophos Sfos.

How do I fix CVE-2020-12271?

Apply the vendor's patch or advisory guidance, then verify no affected versions remain across your devices.

How Secuno handles this

Secuno correlates vulnerabilities like CVE-2020-12271 against the real software inventory on every managed device, as each hourly inventory arrives. Rather than a static severity, each match is scored in context: exploit availability, EPSS, the asset's exposure, and business criticality decide where it lands in the queue. Because it is on the CISA KEV list, a risk for it never ranks below high, and the update that fixes it moves to the Emergency patch lane. If an affected version is present anywhere across your portfolio, it surfaces automatically with a prioritised remediation path.

See how prioritisation works Book a demo

Data from the NVD, CISA KEV catalog and FIRST EPSS. CVSS 3.1 base score shown where available.