HOMEVULNERABILITIESCVE-2020-3442
MEDIUM

CVE-2020-3442

CWE-319Published: July 20, 2020· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

5.7
CVSS v3.1

Official Description

The DuoConnect client enables users to establish SSH connections to hosts protected by a DNG instance. When a user initiates an SSH connection to a DNG-protected host for the first time using DuoConnect, the user’s browser is opened to a login screen in order to complete authentication determined by the contents of the '-relay' argument. If the ‘-relay’ is set to a URL beginning with "http://", then the browser will initially attempt to load the URL over an insecure HTTP connection, before being immediately redirected to HTTPS (in addition to standard redirect mechanisms, the DNG uses HTTP Strict Transport Security headers to enforce this). After successfully authenticating to a DNG, DuoConnect stores an authentication token in a local system cache, so users do not have to complete this browser-based authentication workflow for every subsequent SSH connection. These tokens are valid for a configurable period of time, which defaults to 8 hours. If a user running DuoConnect already has a valid token, then instead of opening a web browser, DuoConnect directly contacts the DNG, again using the configured '-relay' value, and sends this token, as well as the intended SSH server hostname and port numbers. If the '-relay' argument begins with "http://", then this request will be sent over an insecure connection, and could be exposed to an attacker who is sniffing the traffic on the same network. The DNG authentication tokens that may be exposed during SSH relay may be used to gain network-level access to the servers and ports protected by that given relay host. The DNG provides network-level access only to the protected SSH servers. It does not interact with the independent SSH authentication and encryption. An attacker cannot use a stolen token on its own to authenticate against a DNG-protected SSH server.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2020-3442 requires adjacent network access, limiting remote exploitation but still posing risk in shared or local network environments.

Exploitation does not require any privileges, though user interaction (Required) is needed, which slightly reduces the risk of mass automated attacks.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), with a CVSS base score of 5.7.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability
Attack VectorAdjacent
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges Req.None
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged
Impact
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityNone
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected Vendors & Products

duo1 product(s)
duoconnect
Source: NVD CPE · 1 total CPE entries

Exploit & PoC Resources

NO KNOWN EXPLOITNo public exploit confirmed at this time
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Official Patches & Advisories

All References (2)

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2020-3442
CVSS Score5.7 / 10
SeverityMEDIUM
WeaknessCWE-319
CISA KEVNo
Affected1 vendor(s)
PublishedJul 20, 2020

Related CVEs (CWE-319)

Recommended Actions

  • Apply vendor patches immediately
  • Monitor CVE-2020-3442 in threat intel feeds
  • Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts
Data sourced from NVD (NIST), CISA KEV, and EPSS (FIRST). Analysis generated by CTIWATCH.COM. CVE data is provided under the NVD usage policy.