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CVE Record

CVE-2020-22669: Modsecurity owasp-modsecurity-crs 3.2.0 (Paranoia level at PL1) has a SQL injection bypass vulnerability.

Modsecurity owasp-modsecurity-crs 3.2.0 (Paranoia level at PL1) has a SQL injection bypass vulnerability. Attackers can use the comment characters and variable assignments in the SQL syntax to bypass Modsecurity WAF protection and implement SQL injection attacks on Web applications.

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

This CVE describes a weakness in OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set 3.2.0 at paranoia level 1. Certain SQL syntax patterns could bypass WAF rules, reducing protection for web applications that rely on ModSecurity CRS to stop SQL injection attempts.

Executive priority

Prioritize remediation where the WAF protects sensitive or internet-facing applications. The business risk is not a WAF outage, but weakened protection against SQL injection if application controls are incomplete.

Technical view

The record identifies a SQL injection detection bypass in owasp-modsecurity-crs 3.2.0 at PL1 involving SQL comment characters and variable assignments. It is a WAF rule bypass, not proof that every protected application is directly injectable. CVSS and CWE data are not provided.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely where ModSecurity uses OWASP CRS 3.2.0 at paranoia level 1 in front of database-backed web applications, especially if the WAF is treated as the primary SQL injection control.

Exploitation context

The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited active exploitation. Public GitHub issue and pull request references indicate the bypass was publicly discussed, and Debian later issued security updates for modsecurity-crs.

Researcher notes

Evidence is limited: no CVSS, CWE, CPE, or detailed affected-version range is included. The strongest anchors are the CVE description, upstream GitHub issue and pull request, and Debian LTS security update references.

Mitigation direction

  • Inventory ModSecurity deployments using OWASP CRS 3.2.0 at PL1.
  • Apply supported modsecurity-crs updates from your vendor or distribution.
  • Review Core Rule Set project guidance before changing WAF rules.
  • Treat WAF filtering as compensating control, not primary SQL injection prevention.
  • Prioritize parameterized queries and application-side input handling.

Validation and detection

  • Confirm deployed CRS version and configured paranoia level.
  • Check whether Debian or other vendor security updates are installed.
  • Review WAF logs for suspicious SQL injection probes reaching applications.
  • Run authorized staging regression tests for SQL injection blocking behavior.
  • Verify backend applications enforce parameterized database access.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
6

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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ATT&CK lookup starting points

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description · low confidence lookup

Database behavior lookup

The CVE wording references database injection or access, so collection and exfiltration review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2020-22669 mapping review

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

0CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
5Source links

CVSS and timeline data

No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
n/an/an/aListed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.