CVE-2020-12801

Crash-recovered MSOffice encrypted documents defaulted to not to using encryption on next save

MEDIUM
5.3
CVSS Score
Published: May 18, 2020 at 02:20 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 02:52 AM UTC
3 products affected across 3 vendorsLeapLibreofficeLibreOffice

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Severity
MEDIUM5.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 1%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

If LibreOffice has an encrypted document open and crashes, that document is auto-saved encrypted. On restart, LibreOffice offers to restore the document and prompts for the password to decrypt it. If the recovery is successful, and if the file format of the recovered document was not LibreOffice's default ODF file format, then affected versions of LibreOffice default that subsequent saves of the document are unencrypted. This may lead to a user accidentally saving a MSOffice file format document unencrypted while believing it to be encrypted. This issue affects: LibreOffice 6-3 series versions prior to 6.3.6; 6-4 series versions prior to 6.4.3.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

6.3.0 ≤ v < 6.3.66.4.0 ≤ v < 6.4.3
Affected range stops below 6.3.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 6.4.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
6-3 series ≤ v < 6.3.66-4 series ≤ v < 6.4.36-3 series6-4 series
Affected range stops below 6.3.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 6.4.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
LOW
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-311CWE-312

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