CVE-2020-11494: Use of Uninitialized Resource in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

11

Low

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.

How the score was calculated

EPSS 0.7% (30-day exploitation probability)+8
Technical severity (medium)+3

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation

Not confirmed

Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.

EPSS FIRST

0.72%

ahead of 53% of scored CVEs · Oct 15, 2026

Affects

Canonical

Ubuntu Linux and 3 more

CVSS base

4.4

Medium · 1 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation

None

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

No

can an attacker script the kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

Documented patch — git.kernel.org (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Linux Linux Kernel…).
Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (memory corruption), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Canonical	Ubuntu Linux	version 14.04version 16.04version 18.04version 19.10	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Debian	Debian Linux	version 8.0version 9.0	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Linux	Linux Kernel	≥ 3.16 and ≤ 5.6.2	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Opensuse	Leap	version 15.1	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector

Local

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

High

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

None

Availability

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
4.4	CVSS 3.1	Medium	0.8	3.6	nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
2.1	CVSS 2.0	Low	3.9	2.9	nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-908 · Use of Uninitialized Resource

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 15, 2026 · 3 reading(s) · max 0.72%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
Correlate service crashes/restarts with inbound traffic; repeated crashes may indicate attempts.

endpoint telemetry (EDR)crash dumps

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
SSVC assessment updated
Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 13, 2026
Fix documented
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVSS changed · 4.4
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Modified
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
2020
CVE published
Apr 2, 2020 · mitre

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

13 on the record

github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/b9258a2cece4ec1f020715fe3554bc2e360f6264
Patch, Third Party Advisory, x_refsource_MISC, NIST National Vulnerability Database
git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip.git/commit/
Mailing List, Patch, Vendor Advisory, x_refsource_MISC, NIST National Vulnerability Database
usn.ubuntu.com/4368-1/
Third Party Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_UBUNTU, NIST National Vulnerability Database
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200430-0004/
Third Party Advisory, x_refsource_CONFIRM, NIST National Vulnerability Database
usn.ubuntu.com/4369-1/
Third Party Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_UBUNTU, NIST National Vulnerability Database
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-04/msg00035.html
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_SUSE, NIST National Vulnerability Database
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/06/msg00011.html
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory, mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST, NIST National Vulnerability Database
usn.ubuntu.com/4363-1/
Third Party Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_UBUNTU, NIST National Vulnerability Database
packetstormsecurity.com/files/159565/Kernel-Live-Patch-Security-Notice-LSN-0072-1.html
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry, x_refsource_MISC, NIST National Vulnerability Database
www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4698
Third Party Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_DEBIAN, NIST National Vulnerability Database
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/06/msg00012.html
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory, mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST, NIST National Vulnerability Database
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/06/msg00013.html
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory, mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST, NIST National Vulnerability Database
usn.ubuntu.com/4364-1/
Third Party Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_UBUNTU, NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Canonical
every CVE for this vendor

Memory corruption
same class

CWE-908
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

Medium CVE-2026-98164 KVM: x86/mmu: Check write tracking in all address spaces 16d
High CVE-2026-98163 cgroup: Avoid iteration of dying tasks with zero refcount 19d
Medium CVE-2026-98162 smb/server: fix tree connection leak in smb2_tree_connect() 20d
Medium CVE-2026-98160 staging: rtl8723bs: fix mismatched free of HalData in rtw_sdio_if1_init() 20d
Medium CVE-2026-98161 nvdimm: pmem: keep PREFLUSH before data writes 20d
Medium CVE-2026-100079 usb: typec: ucsi: unregister debugfs entries on teardown 20d

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2020-11494 is "Use of Uninitialized Resource in Canonical Ubuntu Linux", rated Medium. It affects Ubuntu Linux (Canonical); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 4.4 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.72% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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