CVE-2020-12271

KEVRansomware UseSophos SFOS SQL Injection Vulnerability

Description

Sophos Firewall operating system (SFOS) firmware contains a SQL injection vulnerability when configured with either the administration (HTTPS) service or the User Portal is exposed on the WAN zone. Successful exploitation may cause remote code execution to exfiltrate usernames and hashed passwords for the local device admin(s), portal admins, and user accounts used for remote access (but not external Active Directory or LDAP passwords).

A SQL injection issue was found in SFOS 17.0, 17.1, 17.5, and 18.0 before 2020-04-25 on Sophos XG Firewall devices, as exploited in the wild in April 2020. This affected devices configured with either the administration (HTTPS) service or the User Portal exposed on the WAN zone. A successful attack may have caused remote code execution that exfiltrated usernames and hashed passwords for the local device admin(s), portal admins, and user accounts used for remote access (but not external Active Directory or LDAP passwords)

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

PublishedApr 27, 2020

Last modifiedJun 17, 2026

Added to KEVNov 3, 2021

Remediation dueMay 3, 2022

References

community.sophos.com/kb/en-us/135412Vendor Advisory
cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/89.htmlThird Party Advisory
news.sophos.com/en-us/2020/04/26/asnarok/ExploitVendor Advisory
cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-12271US Government Resource

0 recent articles mention this CVE

Risk assessment · Critical

Actively exploited and used by ransomware crews. Patch immediately.

Exploitation: Confirmed in the wild (CISA KEV)
Federal remediation deadline: Overdue by 1637 days
Ransomware: Used in known ransomware campaigns
CVSS: 9.8 CRITICAL
EPSS (30-day exploit probability): 42.4% · top 1% of all CVEs
Weakness: CWE-89
Attack vector: Network, remotely reachable
Preconditions: No privileges and no user interaction

Recommended actions

1.Apply updates per vendor instructions.
2.Treat as emergency change: patch or isolate internet-facing instances first.
3.Review exposure: confirm which instances are reachable from the internet and restrict access until patched.
4.Hunt for compromise: review logs for the disclosure window, not just from the patch date.
5.Verify offline/immutable backups and segment the affected systems. This flaw is used for ransomware initial access.

Assessment is derived automatically from the live signals above; verify against your own asset inventory.