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CVE Record

CVE-2020-7769: Command Injection

This affects the package nodemailer before 6.4.16. Use of crafted recipient email addresses may result in arbitrary command flag injection in sendmail transport for sending mails.

HighCVSS 8.6Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

CVE-2020-7769 is a high-severity Nodemailer issue. Applications using affected versions before 6.4.16 could let crafted recipient email addresses influence sendmail command flags when sending mail. Business impact depends on whether the application uses Nodemailer's sendmail transport with untrusted recipient input.

Executive priority

Treat this as urgent for internet-facing or customer-facing systems that send email using Nodemailer sendmail transport. If sendmail transport is not used, handle through normal dependency remediation with verification.

Technical view

The vulnerability affects Nodemailer before 6.4.16. The published description states crafted recipient addresses may cause arbitrary command flag injection in the sendmail transport. The CVSS 3.1 score is 8.6, with low attack complexity, no privileges, no user interaction, and high availability impact.

Likely exposure

Most likely exposure is Node.js applications that depend on Nodemailer before 6.4.16 and use sendmail transport. Risk is higher where recipient addresses are influenced by external users, forms, invitations, notifications, or other untrusted data.

Exploitation context

The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. The CVSS vector indicates network-reachable, unauthenticated, low-complexity exploitation is plausible when affected application behavior is exposed.

Researcher notes

Evidence supports a sendmail transport command flag injection condition, not broad exploitation across all Nodemailer usage. Validate the transport choice and data flow before rating local exposure. Active exploitation is not established by the supplied sources.

Mitigation direction

  • Upgrade Nodemailer to 6.4.16 or later.
  • Prioritize applications using Nodemailer's sendmail transport.
  • Avoid passing untrusted recipient input to sendmail transport until upgraded.
  • Review Snyk and vendor guidance for packaged dependency variants.
  • Redeploy affected services after dependency updates are verified.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory package manifests and lockfiles for Nodemailer versions before 6.4.16.
  • Identify mail paths using Nodemailer's sendmail transport.
  • Check whether recipient addresses can originate from external users.
  • Run dependency scanning against application and packaged artifacts.
  • Confirm updated deployments no longer include affected versions.
Prepared
Confidence
high
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

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

Execution behavior lookup

The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. 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-2020-7769 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
8.6 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

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

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
5Source 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
8.6CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H/E:P/RL:U/RC:C3.94.7Primary CVE score

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

8.6High
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2020-7769Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

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

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/anodemailerunspecifiedListed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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