Actively exploited vulnerability
Sophos XG Firewall: memory corruption flaw under attack
CVE-2020-15069 · Sophos XG Firewall Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
What is affected
Sophos XG Firewall is mostly run by companies, schools and public bodies, not on home computers. You are unlikely to have it yourself, but organisations that hold your data may. Breaches that start with flaws like this one are how personal data ends up leaked.
Sophos XG Firewall contains a buffer overflow vulnerability that allows for remote code execution via the "HTTP/S bookmark" feature.
What an attacker can do
This is a memory corruption flaw. It lets an attacker corrupt the program's memory by feeding it specially crafted content: a web page, a file or a network message. The result ranges from a crash to the attacker running their own code.
- How it is reached
- Over the internet or network
- Access the attacker needs
- No account needed
- Does the victim have to do something?
- No, works without the victim doing anything
What to do
- At home: nothing to install. Keep your own devices updated and use a different password for every service, so that a breach at one organisation does not open your other accounts.
- If you administer Sophos XG Firewall at work: apply the vendor's fix or mitigation now and review logs for signs of compromise, because the flaw was being exploited before it was listed.
- If the product is past its support date and no fix exists, take it off the internet or retire it.
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Vendor advisories and fixes
- community.sophos.comcommunity.sophos.com/b/security-blog/posts/advisory-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-user-
How urgent is it
CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on February 6, 2025, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by February 27, 2025, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.
The EPSS model estimates a 11% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 96% of all scored vulnerabilities.
Its CVSS severity score is 9.8 out of 10 (critical), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.
Technical description
Sophos XG Firewall 17.x through v17.5 MR12 allows a Buffer Overflow and remote code execution via the HTTP/S Bookmarks feature for clientless access. Hotfix HF062020.1 was published for all firewalls running v17.x.