CVE-2020-16120

MEDIUMNVD 5.15.1—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This medium-severity CVE scores 5.1 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.4%, top 68% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, nvd
5.1EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0%CVSS: 5.1Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

Overlayfs did not properly perform permission checking when copying up files in an overlayfs and could be exploited from within a user namespace, if, for example, unprivileged user namespaces were allowed. It was possible to have a file not readable by an unprivileged user to be copied to a mountpoint controlled by the user, like a removable device. This was introduced in kernel version 4.19 by commit d1d04ef ("ovl: stack file ops"). This was fixed in kernel version 5.8 by commits 56230d9 ("ovl: verify permissions in ovl_path_open()"), 48bd024 ("ovl: switch to mounter creds in readdir") and 05acefb ("ovl: check permission to open real file"). Additionally, commits 130fdbc ("ovl: pass correct flags for opening real directory") and 292f902 ("ovl: call secutiry hook in ovl_real_ioctl()") in kernel 5.8 might also be desired or necessary. These additional commits introduced a regression in overlay mounts within user namespaces which prevented access to files with ownership outside of the user namespace. This regression was mitigated by subsequent commit b6650da ("ovl: do not fail because of O_NOATIMEi") in kernel 5.11.

CVSS v3
5.1
EG Score
5.1(medium)
EG Risk
28(Track)
EG Risk 28/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity51% × 45%
Exploitation0% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
0%
EPSS %ILE
34%
KEV
Not listed

Published

February 10, 2021

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

References (22)

Patch Availability(4)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulinux-image-virtual-hwe-16.04-edge (4.15.0.120.121) @ xenial2026-05-26ubuntu
ubuntulinux-image-raspi2-hwe-18.04 (5.3.0.1035.24) @ bionic2026-05-26ubuntu
ubuntulowlatency-4.4 (4.4.0-168) @ xenial2026-05-26ubuntu
ubuntulinux-image-virtual-hwe-20.04 (5.4.0.51.54) @ focal2026-05-26ubuntu

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(4 across 4 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
linux—5.8.7-1—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
linux—5.8.7-1—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
linux—5.8.7-1—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
linux—5.8.7-1—

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(5)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 5× in last 7d / 26× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 132 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-08-25 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-21 23:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-20 22:52 UTCEPSS rescore
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Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2020-16120?
CVE-2020-16120 is a medium vulnerability published on February 10, 2021. Overlayfs did not properly perform permission checking when copying up files in an overlayfs and could be exploited from within a user namespace, if, for example, unprivileged user namespaces were allowed. It was possible to have a file not readable by an unprivileged user to be copied to a…
When was CVE-2020-16120 disclosed?
CVE-2020-16120 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on February 10, 2021, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2020-16120 actively exploited?
CVE-2020-16120 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 66.0% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-16120?
CVE-2020-16120 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.1 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2020-16120?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2020-16120, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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