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Full vulnerability report · 2020
CVE-2020-14040High confidence

n/a — Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')

n/a · n/a

7.5HighCVSS 3.1
Recommended action
Within 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
Direct vendor intelligence

Authoritative vendor CSAF and VEX advisories

Structured product status and remediation from the issuing vendor. Product-state explanations are always visible; large lists can be searched or downloaded.

1 current
CVE-2020-14040 · CSAF 2.0 · revision 3 · finalRed Hat Product Securitygolang.org/x/text: possibility to trigger an infinite loop in encoding/unicode could lead to crash
185 known affected

The vendor explicitly identifies these products as affected by this CVE.

  • jenkins-operator-container as a component of OpenShift Developer Tools and Services
  • jaeger as a component of OpenShift Service Mesh 1
  • jaeger-operator as a component of OpenShift Service Mesh 1
  • jaeger-operator.src as a component of OpenShift Service Mesh 1
  • jaeger.src as a component of OpenShift Service Mesh 1
  • cert-manager.src as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2
  • cert-policy-controller.src as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2
  • config-policy-controller.src as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2
  • configmap-watcher.src as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2
  • governance-policy-propagator.src as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2
  • governance-policy-spec-sync.src as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2
  • governance-policy-status-sync.src as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2
Summary
A denial of service vulnerability was found in the golang.org/x/text library. A library or application must use one of the vulnerable functions, such as unicode.Transform, transform.String, or transform.Byte, to be susceptible to this vulnerability. If an attacker is able to supply specific characters or strings to the vulnerable application, there is the potential to cause an infinite loop to occur using more memory, resulting in a denial of service.
Remediation
For details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Select the national-authority views to include. The exact source language is shown on each matched advisory. Your choice is remembered on this device and encoded in the shareable URL.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2021-0962

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

ENISA has published the identifier mapping but no EUVD description has been stored yet.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
Not supplied in the stored EUVD record
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
01

What, why and how

The x/text package before 0.3.3 for Go has a vulnerability in encoding/unicode that could lead to the UTF-16 decoder entering an infinite loop, causing the program to crash or run out of memory. An attacker could provide a single byte to a UTF16 decoder instantiated with UseBOM or ExpectBOM to trigger an infinite loop if the String function on the Decoder is called, or the Decoder is passed to golang.org/x/text/transform.String.

What

The x/text package before 0.3.3 for Go has a vulnerability in encoding/unicode that could lead to the UTF-16 decoder entering an infinite loop, causing the program to crash or run out of memory. An attacker could provide a single byte to a UTF16 decoder instantiated with UseBOM or ExpectBOM to trigger an infinite loop if the String function on the Decoder is called, or the Decoder is passed to golang.org/x/text/transform.String.

Why

A malformed condition prevents a loop from making progress or terminating, allowing resource exhaustion.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation without authentication or user interaction. If successful, the issue may disrupt the affected service.

What

The x/text package before 0.3.3 for Go has a vulnerability in encoding/unicode that could lead to the UTF-16 decoder entering an infinite loop, causing the program to crash or run out of memory. An attacker could provide a single byte to a UTF16 decoder instantiated with UseBOM or ExpectBOM to trigger an infinite loop if the String function on the Decoder is called, or the Decoder is passed to golang.org/x/text/transform.String.

Why

A malformed condition prevents a loop from making progress or terminating, allowing resource exhaustion.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation without authentication or user interaction. If successful, the issue may disrupt the affected service.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
a network path → Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') → disrupt the affected service
Attack surface
Network
Privileges required
None: unauthenticated exploitation is possible
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-835 ↗

CWE-835: Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop'). The product contains an iteration or loop with an exit condition that cannot be reached, i.e., an infinite loop.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVNetworkAttack vector: The vulnerable component can be reached over a network.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRNonePrivileges required: The attacker does not need an account or existing privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CNoneConfidentiality impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.INoneIntegrity impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
No specific living-off-the-land technique is confirmed in the structured sources. Monitor normal administration tools for activity inconsistent with the affected service's baseline.
NetworkUnauthenticatedDenial of serviceCWE-835
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

BSI · German · WID-SEC-2022-0510IBM DB2: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Ein entfernter, anonymer, authentisierter oder lokaler Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in IBM DB2 ausnutzen, um Dateien zu manipulieren, Sicherheitsmaßnahmen zu umgehen, vertrauliche Informationen offenzulegen, einen Denial-of-Service-Zustand auszulösen, willkürlichen Code mit erhöhten Rechten auszuführen, Informationen falsch darzustellen und beliebigen Code auszuführen.

Official advisory ↗
BSI · German · WID-SEC-2023-2981Red Hat OpenShift: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Ein entfernter, anonymer Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in Red Hat OpenShift ausnutzen, um Sicherheitsvorkehrungen zu umgehen, einen Denial of Service zu verursachen oder weitere nicht definierte Auswirkungen zu erzielen.

Official advisory ↗
Cyber Security Agency of Singapore · English · CSA-SB-20200624Security Bulletin 24 Jun 2020

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore included this CVE in its official Security Bulletin 24 Jun 2020, published on 24 June 2020. Open the linked bulletin for the product, severity and reference information published in that issue.

Official advisory ↗
CERT-FR · French · CERTFR-2025-AVI-0582Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits Palo Alto Networks

curity.paloaltonetworks.com/PAN-SA-2025-0012 Bulletin de sécurité Palo Alto Networks PAN-SA-2025-0013 du 09 juillet 2025 https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/PAN-SA-2025-0013 Référence CVE CVE-2019-13750 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-13750 Référence CVE CVE-2019-13751 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-13751 Référence CVE CVE-2019-19603 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-19603 Référence CVE CVE-2019-5827 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-5827 Référence CVE CVE-2020-13434 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-13434 Référence CVE CVE-2020-13435 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-13435 Référence CVE CVE-2020-14040 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-14040 Référence CVE CVE-2020-15358 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-15358 Référence CVE CVE-2020-29652 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-29652 Référence CVE CVE-2020-9283 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-9283 Référence CVE CVE-2021-20305 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-20305 Référence CVE CVE-2021-27918 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-27918 Référence CVE CVE-2022-1962 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-1962 Référence CVE CVE-2022-28131 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-28131 Référence CVE CVE-2022-30633 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-

Official advisory ↗
CERT-FR · French · CERTFR-2022-AVI-591Multiples vulnérabilités dans les produits IBM

d?id=CVE-2019-11250 Référence CVE CVE-2019-11251 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-11251 Référence CVE CVE-2019-11252 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-11252 Référence CVE CVE-2019-11253 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-11253 Référence CVE CVE-2019-11254 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-11254 Référence CVE CVE-2019-11840 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-11840 Référence CVE CVE-2019-11841 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-11841 Référence CVE CVE-2019-16884 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-16884 Référence CVE CVE-2020-10752 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-10752 Référence CVE CVE-2020-14040 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-14040 Référence CVE CVE-2020-15106 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-15106 Référence CVE CVE-2020-15112 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-15112 Référence CVE CVE-2020-15113 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-15113 Référence CVE CVE-2020-25704 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-25704 Référence CVE CVE-2020-26160 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-26160 Référence CVE CVE-2020-27813 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-27813 Référence CVE CVE-2020-28851 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-28851 Référence CVE CVE-2020-28852 https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=

Official advisory ↗
JVN iPedia · Japanese · JVNDB-2020-006934Go 用 x/text パッケージにおける無限ループに関する脆弱性

Go 用 x/text パッケージには、無限ループに関する脆弱性が存在します。

Official advisory ↗
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Patch available
Affected
Fixed
Action
For details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. If business-safe, reduce exposure to the affected interface and allow only trusted sources until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 17 Jun 2020 · Last source change 4 Aug 2024, 12:32 UTC · CWE-835 · Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceNIST NVD
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2021-0962
Product sourceVendor CSAF · Red Hat Product Security
Remediation sourceVendor CSAF · Red Hat Product Security
CWE sourceNIST NVD
NVD statusNVD modified after enrichment

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗

No material field changes have been recorded since change tracking began. Routine source refreshes and cosmetic edits are intentionally excluded.

Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2021-0962↗Vendor CSAF · Red Hat Product Security↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2020-14040 · cve.blacktree.nl