Cyber Resilience

CVE-2020-5735

Memory Safety in Amcrest 1080-Lite 8Ch Firmware

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCMemory Safety
Published
08 April 2020
Modified
31 October 2025
KEV Added
03 November 2021
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.36 98th percentile
Risk Priority 90 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2020-5735 is a high-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Amcrest 1080-Lite 8Ch Firmware. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

Amcrest cameras and NVR devices contain a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2020-5735 and also associated with CWE-121 and CWE-787, that affects the service listening on TCP port 37777. The flaw permits an authenticated remote attacker to supply crafted input that overwrites memory on the stack, leading to a crash or potential arbitrary code execution. The issue carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8, reflecting network attack vector, low complexity, and low required privileges.

An authenticated remote attacker can connect to port 37777 and trigger the overflow to cause a denial-of-service condition that crashes the device; under favorable conditions the same flaw may be leveraged for arbitrary code execution, giving the attacker control over the affected camera or NVR.

The vulnerability appears in public exploit repositories demonstrating denial-of-service against models such as the Amcrest IP2M-841 and is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, confirming observed real-world exploitation. No vendor patch or configuration guidance is detailed in the referenced advisories.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Amcrest cameras and NVR are vulnerable to a stack-based buffer overflow over port 37777. An authenticated remote attacker can abuse this issue to crash the device and possibly execute arbitrary code.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
03 November 2021

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2022-20701Shared CWE-121, CWE-787both on KEV
CVE-2025-22457Shared CWE-121, CWE-787both on KEV
CVE-2018-5002Shared CWE-121, CWE-787both on KEV
CVE-2025-0282Shared CWE-121, CWE-787both on KEV
CVE-2025-32756Shared CWE-121, CWE-787both on KEV
CVE-2021-20038Shared CWE-121, CWE-787both on KEV
CVE-2022-20700Shared CWE-121, CWE-787both on KEV
CVE-2020-0986Shared CWE-787both on KEV
CVE-2021-30761Shared CWE-787both on KEV
CVE-2015-2424Shared CWE-787both on KEV

Affected Assets

amcrest
1080-lite 8ch firmware
all versions
amcrest
amdv10814-h5 firmware
all versions
amcrest
ipm-721 firmware
≤ v2.420.ac00.18.r.20200217
amcrest
ip2m-841 firmware
≤ v2.420.ac00.18.r.20200217
amcrest
ip2m-841-v3 firmware
≤ v2.800.0000000.6.r.200314
amcrest
ip2m-853ew firmware
≤ v2.623.00ac004.0.r.200316
amcrest
ip2m-858w firmware
≤ v2.623.00ac004.0.r.200316
amcrest
ip2m-866w firmware
≤ v2.623.00ac004.0.r.200316
amcrest
ip2m-866ew firmware
≤ v2.623.00ac004.0.r.200316
amcrest
ip4m-1053ew firmware
≤ v2.623.00ac004.0.r.200316
+8 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-787

Out-of-bounds writes that corrupt control flow or inject shellcode are rendered non-executable by the same memory protections.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.

prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248594 OL 8 must implement address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution. prevents CWE-121
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271452 OL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services. prevents CWE-121

References