CVE-2020-13167 — Netsweeper
CRITICALCVE-2020-13167 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability in netsweeper netsweeper. 2 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Netsweeper through 6.4.3 allows unauthenticated remote code execution because webadmin/tools/unixlogin.php (with certain Referer headers) launches a command line with client-supplied…
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-13167 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 ≥ 90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
Netsweeper through 6.4.3 allows unauthenticated remote code execution because webadmin/tools/unixlogin.php (with certain Referer headers) launches a command line with client-supplied parameters, and allows injection of shell metacharacters.
Affected Products
netsweepernetsweeperResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Vendor / applianceDetect
Inventory every netsweeper netsweeper deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.
Remediation status
No patch has shipped for CVE-2020-13167 yet — track the netsweeper netsweeper advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds 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. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.
How to detect CVE-2020-13167
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2020-13167 -u https://target- Template
- Netsweeper <=6.4.3 - Python Code Injection
- Severity
- critical
- Impact
- Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to remote code execution, compromising the affected system.
- Remediation
- Upgrade to a patched version of Netsweeper (>=6.4.4) to mitigate this vulnerability.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (dwisiswant0), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-13167 being exploited in your environment?
Detect and block the exploit chain at execution, on systems you cannot patch yet.