Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2020-5238


The table extension in GitHub Flavored Markdown before version 0.29.0.gfm.1 takes O(n * n) time to parse certain inputs. An attacker could craft a markdown table which would take an unreasonably long time to process, causing a denial of service. This issue does not affect the upstream cmark project. The issue has been fixed in version 0.29.0.gfm.1.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.5, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 2 products from github_flavored_markdown_project, from fedoraproject organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Reported in 2020, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.


Published

2020-07-01T23:15:10.443

Last Modified

2024-11-21T05:33:44.417

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 6.5 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P

  • Access Vector: NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: LOW
  • Authentication: SINGLE
  • Confidentiality Impact: NONE
  • Integrity Impact: NONE
  • Availability Impact: PARTIAL
Exploitability Score

8.0

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses
  • Type: Secondary
    CWE-20
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-20

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Application github_flavored_markdown_project github_flavored_markdown < 0.29.0.gfm.1 Yes
Operating System fedoraproject fedora 31 Yes
Operating System fedoraproject fedora 32 Yes
Operating System fedoraproject fedora 33 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For github_flavored_markdown_project's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.