CVE-2020-8260A vulnerability in the Pulse Connect Secure < 9.1R9 admin web interface could allow an authenticated attacker to perform an arbitrary code…
- 7.2HighCVSS base score
- 96.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.1% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 3 Nov 2021
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
A vulnerability in the Pulse Connect Secure < 9.1R9 admin web interface could allow an authenticated attacker to perform an arbitrary code execution using uncontrolled gzip extraction.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Ivanti Pulse Connect Secure Code Execution Vulnerability.
- Added
- 3 Nov 2021
- Fix due (US federal)
- 3 May 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 3 Nov 2021.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module for it. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits1
Metasploit modules1 module
- Pulse Secure VPN gzip RCE (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/linux/http/pulse_secure_gzip_rceRank excellentdisclosed 26 Oct 2020
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By hackerone
- 9 months later
· 9 months later
Published
- 12 months later
· 12 months later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.2 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.2 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 96.5% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.2.
Affected products
Pulse Connect Secure / Pulse Policy Secure
- affected 9.1R9
References
References3
- https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44601 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160619/Pulse-Secure-VPN-Remote-Code-Execution.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-8260 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2020-29130 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2020-8260)Record last updated .