Evidence used
- No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
- Exploitation requires an existing local or physical foothold with privileges.
- EPSS is 0.28% for the current model date.
BlackTreeCVE IntelligenceFull vulnerability report · 2020
CVE-2020-9404High confidence
In PACTware before 4.1 SP6 and 5.x before 5.0.5.31, passwords are stored in an insecure manner, and may be modified by an attacker with no knowledge of the current passwords
Unknown · Unknown
7.1HighCVSS 3.1
Within 7 days
Patch availableHigh technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.
R
Open reassessment dashboard →Operational reassessment
Published severity in operational context
Published severityHigh→Operational priority:Medium, lowered one band.downgradedsince 4 Aug 2024
Compensating controls
- Validate the affected product branch and deploy the verified fixed release.
- Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
- Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.
Verification
- Confirm that the asset runs Unknown Unknown and falls inside the recorded affected range.
- Verify the installed build against the product-specific fixed version after deployment.
- Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
- Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Direct vendor intelligence
1 currentAuthoritative 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.
SEVD-2020-224-08 · CSAF 2.0 · revision 1.1.0 · finalSchneider Electric CPCERTSchneider Electric PACTware
The vendor explicitly identifies these products as affected by this CVE.
- Schneider Electric Schneider Electric PACTware V5.0.5.30 and prior
- Schneider Electric Schneider Electric PACTware V4.1 SP5 and prior
- Summary
- In PACTware before 4.1 SP6 and 5.x before 5.0.5.31, passwords are stored in an insecure manner, and may be modified by an attacker with no knowledge of the current passwords.
- Remediation
- This vulnerability is fixed in versions V4.1 SP6a and V5.0.5.31 available for download below: V5.0.5.31 is available at: https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/FD-SOFT-M-026/
High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.
Patch available01
What, why and how
In PACTware before 4.1 SP6 and 5.x before 5.0.5.31, passwords are stored in an insecure manner, and may be modified by an attacker with no knowledge of the current passwords.
What
In PACTware before 4.1 SP6 and 5.x before 5.0.5.31, passwords are stored in an insecure manner, and may be modified by an attacker with no knowledge of the current passwords.
Why
The product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.
What
In PACTware before 4.1 SP6 and 5.x before 5.0.5.31, passwords are stored in an insecure manner, and may be modified by an attacker with no knowledge of the current passwords.
Why
The product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.
How
An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.
02
Exploit reality and attack path
CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.
Observed exploitation No confirmed evidence
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.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 None recorded
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.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
- local access → Insufficiently Protected Credentials → cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor
- Attack surface
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low: a basic authenticated account is required
- 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-522 ↗
CWE-522: Insufficiently Protected Credentials. The product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.
- CVSS vector
?
CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity. CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NCommon Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.
AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.ANoneAvailability impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.- Post-exploitation / living off the land
- The issue can support a local privilege or sandbox boundary transition; normal system utilities may then be available in the gained context.
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
- This vulnerability is fixed in versions V4.1 SP6a and V5.0.5.31 available for download below: V5.0.5.31 is available at: https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/FD-SOFT-M-026/
- Workaround
- No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04
Evidence and provenance
Published 11 Aug 2020 · Last source change 4 Aug 2024, 10:26 UTC · CWE-522 · Insufficiently Protected Credentials
CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceNIST NVD
EPSS source FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-14
?
The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2020-30224
Product sourceVendor CSAF · Schneider Electric CPCERT
Remediation sourceVendor CSAF · Schneider Electric CPCERT
CWE sourceNIST NVD
NVD statusNVD modified after enrichment
Missing structured fields: affected product. Missing data is not evidence of low risk; review the primary advisory.
Material change intelligence
View recent updates ↗What changed after publication
- Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.Schneider Electric CPCERT ↗
- Before
- n/a · Fixed: No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
- After
- n/a · Fixed: This vulnerability is fixed in versions V4.1 SP6a and V5.0.5.31 available for download below: V5.0.5.31 is available at: https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/FD-SOFT-M-026/
- Remediation statusRemediation status changed from Awaiting fix to Patch available.Schneider Electric CPCERT ↗
- Before
- Awaiting fix
- After
- Patch available
CVE published
Fixed release recorded from official guidance
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.