CVE-2020-10221 — EnginDemirbilek
HIGHCVE-2020-10221 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
lib/ajaxHandlers/ajaxAddTemplate.php in rConfig through 3.94 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary OS commands via shell metacharacters in the fileName POST parameter.
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2021-11-03. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-05-03.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2020-10221.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-10221 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
lib/ajaxHandlers/ajaxAddTemplate.php in rConfig through 3.94 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary OS commands via shell metacharacters in the fileName POST parameter.
Affected Products
rconfigrconfigResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
rConfig 3.93 - 'ajaxAddTemplate.php' Authenticated Remote Code Execution
by Engin Demirbilek · Mar 12, 2020
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Identify every host running the affected component and compare the installed build against the fixed version below — for source-built or distro-packaged software the version string, not a lockfile, is the source of truth (`dpkg -l`, `rpm -q`, or the binary's own `--version`).
Remediation status
No fixed release is recorded for CVE-2020-10221 yet. Track the upstream advisory, and apply the exposure-reduction steps below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.
How to detect CVE-2020-10221
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2020-10221 -u https://target- Template
- rConfig <= 3.9.4 - Authenticated OS Command Injection
- Severity
- high
- Impact
- Remote attackers can execute arbitrary OS commands, potentially leading to full system compromise.
- Remediation
- Upgrade rConfig beyond 3.9.4 once a fixed release is available, or restrict access to /lib/ajaxHandlers/ and change default credentials.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (Securin), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-10221 in your dependencies?
Find it across , including transitive dependencies.