RVD#3316: No authentication in MAVLink protocol
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-306.
Summary
The Micro Air Vehicle Link (MAVLink) protocol presents no authentication mechanism on its version 1.0 (nor authorization) whichs leads to a variety of attacks including identity spoofing, unauthorized access, PITM attacks and more. According to literature, version 2.0 optionally allows for package signing which mitigates this flaw. Another source mentions that MAVLink 2.0 only provides a simple authentication system based on HMAC. This implies that the flying system overall should add the same symmetric key into all devices of network. If not the case, this may cause a security issue, that if one of the devices and its symmetric key are compromised, the whole authentication system is not reliable.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unspecified | MAVLink | v1.0 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- MAVLink Vendorunspecified Affected v1.0 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2020-10282
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-cjmc-hc9f-gvg8
References
More Dronecode Micro Air Vehicle Link vulnerabilities
- TI-2020-08290 RVD#3317: MAVLink version handshaking allows for an attacker to bypass authentication CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2020-08288 RVD#3315: Cleartext transmission of sensitive information in MAVLink protocol version 1.0 and 2.0 CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2020-10282 · CVE Program
- CVE-2020-10282 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-cjmc-hc9f-gvg8 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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