Vulnerability record · CVE-2020-36166 · published 6 January 2021
CVE-2020-36166: Veritas infoscale vulnerability
VVeritas · Infoscale
An issue was discovered in Veritas InfoScale 7.x through 7.4.2 on Windows, Storage Foundation through 6.1 on Windows, Storage Foundation HA through 6.1 on Windows, and InfoScale Operations Manager (aka VIOM) Windows Management Server 7.x through 7.4.2. On start-up, it loads the OpenSSL library from \usr\local\ssl. This library attempts to load the \usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file, which may not exist. On Windows systems, this path could translate to <drive>:\usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf, where <drive> could be the default Windows installation drive such as C:\ or the drive where a Veritas product is installed. By default, on Windows systems, users can create directories under any top-level directory. A low privileged user can create a <drive>:\usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file to load a malicious OpenSSL engine, resulting in arbitrary code execution as SYSTEM when the service starts. This gives the attacker administrator access on the system, allowing the attacker (by default) to access all data, access all installed applications, etc.
Description
An issue was discovered in Veritas InfoScale 7.x through 7.4.2 on Windows, Storage Foundation through 6.1 on Windows, Storage Foundation HA through 6.1 on Windows, and InfoScale Operations Manager (aka VIOM) Windows Management Server 7.x through 7.4.2. On start-up, it loads the OpenSSL library from \usr\local\ssl. This library attempts to load the \usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file, which may not exist. On Windows systems, this path could translate to <drive>:\usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf, where <drive> could be the default Windows installation drive such as C:\ or the drive where a Veritas product is installed. By default, on Windows systems, users can create directories under any top-level directory. A low privileged user can create a <drive>:\usr\local\ssl\openssl.cnf configuration file to load a malicious OpenSSL engine, resulting in arbitrary code execution as SYSTEM when the service starts. This gives the attacker administrator access on the system, allowing the attacker (by default) to access all data, access all installed applications, etc.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Affected products
4 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.
References
| Link | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/security/VTS20-014 | Vendor Advisory |
| https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/security/VTS20-014 | Vendor Advisory |
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Related vulnerabilities
Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2020-36166), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-29). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.
