Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2020-15134

high Nessus Plugin ID 257281

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- Faye before version 1.4.0, there is a lack of certification validation in TLS handshakes. Faye uses em- http-request and faye-websocket in the Ruby version of its client. Those libraries both use the `EM::Connection#start_tls` method in EventMachine to implement the TLS handshake whenever a `wss:` URL is used for the connection. This method does not implement certificate verification by default, meaning that it does not check that the server presents a valid and trusted TLS certificate for the expected hostname.
That means that any `https:` or `wss:` connection made using these libraries is vulnerable to a man-in- the-middle attack, since it does not confirm the identity of the server it is connected to. The first request a Faye client makes is always sent via normal HTTP, but later messages may be sent via WebSocket.
Therefore it is vulnerable to the same problem that these underlying libraries are, and we needed both libraries to support TLS verification before Faye could claim to do the same. Your client would still be insecure if its initial HTTPS request was verified, but later WebSocket connections were not. This is fixed in Faye v1.4.0, which enables verification by default. For further background information on this issue, please see the referenced GitHub Advisory. (CVE-2020-15134)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 257281

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2020_15134.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/27/2025

Updated: 8/27/2025

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 7.1

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.4

Temporal Score: 5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2020-15134

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.7

Temporal Score: 7.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.04, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:ruby-faye, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/31/2020

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2020-15134

Detections

Analytics