CVE-2020-35517

HIGHNVD 8.28.2—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 8.2 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-24. NVD baseline CVSS 8.2; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
8.2EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 1%CVSS: 8.2Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

A flaw was found in qemu. A host privilege escalation issue was found in the virtio-fs shared file system daemon where a privileged guest user is able to create a device special file in the shared directory and use it to r/w access host devices.

CVSS v3
8.2
EG Score
8.2(medium)
EG Risk
42(Track)
EG Risk 42/100SSVC: 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
Severity82% × 45%
Exploitation1% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
1%
EPSS %ILE
42%
KEV
Not listed

Published

January 28, 2021

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (6)

Auto-updated Sep 6, 2026
Patch available. Sources: redhat, github_commit.
generic

QEMU: Multiple Vulnerabilities (GLSA 202208-27) — Gentoo security

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202208-27
generic

[PATCH] virtiofsd: prevent opening of special files (CVE-2020-35517)

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2021-01/msg05461.html
github_commit

commit ebf101955ce8 (qemu/qemu)

Fix landed in qemu/qemu commit ebf101955ce8 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/qemu/qemu/commit/ebf101955ce8f8d72fba103b5151115a4335de2c
redhat Patch Available

1915823 – (CVE-2020-35517) CVE-2020-35517 QEMU: virtiofsd: potential privileged host device access from guest

Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6 and 7. Virtio-fs is fairly new and is not built in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6 and 7.

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1915823
generic

oss-security - CVE-2020-35517 QEMU: virtiofsd: potential privileged host device access from guest

https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/01/22/1
generic

NetApp Product Security

https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210312-0002/

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2020-35517(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(4)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuqemu-system-x86-xen (1:5.2+dfsg-9ubuntu3.1) @ hirsute2026-05-26ubuntu
redhatvirt-devel:8.2-8020120210211153838.863bb0db2021-03-08redhat
redhatvirt:rhel-8030020210210212009.229f0a1c2021-03-03redhat
redhatvirt-devel:8.3-8030120210211160750.711321452021-02-22redhat

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
qemu—1:5.2+dfsg-5—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
qemu—1:5.2+dfsg-5—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
qemu—1:5.2+dfsg-5—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
qemu—1:5.2+dfsg-5—

Weakness Classification(2)

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

Additional Vendor Advisories

(3)

Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 24× 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 134 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-07 15:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-06 23:01 UTCOSV refresh
  3. 2026-09-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
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  16. 2026-08-20 09:01 UTCOSV refresh
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  1. 2026-08-08 16:33 UTCEPSS rescore
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  4. 2026-08-05 04:40 UTCOSV refresh
  5. 2026-08-04 15:06 UTCEPSS rescore
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  17. 2026-07-23 01:53 UTCEG score recompute
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  24. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
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  26. 2026-07-19 02:52 UTCOSV refresh
  27. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
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  49. 2026-07-01 09:48 UTCOSV refresh
  50. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
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  75. 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2020-35517?
CVE-2020-35517 is a high vulnerability published on January 28, 2021. A flaw was found in qemu. A host privilege escalation issue was found in the virtio-fs shared file system daemon where a privileged guest user is able to create a device special file in the shared directory and use it to r/w access host devices.
When was CVE-2020-35517 disclosed?
CVE-2020-35517 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on January 28, 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-2020-35517 actively exploited?
CVE-2020-35517 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 57.5% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-35517?
CVE-2020-35517 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.2 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2020-35517?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2020-35517, 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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