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CVE Record

CVE-2020-36829: The Mojolicious module before 8.65 for Perl is vulnerable to secure_compare timing attacks that allow an at...

The Mojolicious module before 8.65 for Perl is vulnerable to secure_compare timing attacks that allow an attacker to guess the length of a secret string. Only versions after 1.74 are affected.

HighCVSS 7.5Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

Mojolicious for Perl had a comparison routine that could leak the length of a secret through timing behavior. That does not mean full secrets are automatically exposed, but it weakens protections around secret checks. The CVE rates confidentiality impact as high and affects versions after 1.74 and before 8.65.

Executive priority

Treat as a high-priority confidentiality weakness for Mojolicious-based services, especially internet-facing systems. Remediation is straightforward if dependency upgrades or vendor packages are available, and there is no cited evidence of active exploitation in the provided sources.

Technical view

CVE-2020-36829 is a timing side-channel in Mojolicious secure_compare before 8.65. An unauthenticated network attacker may infer the length of a secret string. The CVSS 3.1 score is 7.5, with high confidentiality impact and no stated integrity or availability impact.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely in Perl applications or systems using Mojolicious versions greater than 1.74 and below 8.65, including packaged libmojolicious-perl deployments. Risk depends on whether secure_compare protects reachable secret comparisons.

Exploitation context

The provided sources do not report active exploitation, and the CVE is not listed as KEV. The issue is a timing attack, so real-world usefulness depends on reachable application behavior and attacker ability to observe response timing reliably.

Researcher notes

The bundle identifies the vulnerable range as versions after 1.74 and before 8.65. Affected CPE/product fields are incomplete, so validate by actual module/package version rather than CPE matching alone. Avoid assuming broader secret recovery beyond the documented length leak.

Mitigation direction

  • Upgrade Mojolicious to 8.65 or later where possible.
  • Apply OS vendor security updates for packaged libmojolicious-perl.
  • Check vendor guidance for supported backports on maintained distributions.
  • Prioritize internet-facing services using Mojolicious secret comparisons.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory deployed Mojolicious and libmojolicious-perl versions.
  • Confirm affected versions are upgraded or vendor-patched.
  • Review dependency manifests and runtime package inventories.
  • Identify reachable code paths relying on secure_compare for secrets.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
5

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

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

description · low confidence lookup

Credential and access behavior lookup

The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access 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-2020-36829 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
7.5 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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.

1CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
4Source links

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
7.5CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N3.93.6Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

7.5High
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2020-36829Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

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.