CVE-2020-15150 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Code Injection vulnerability in paginator. A fix is available for paginator — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Remote Code Execution in paginator
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-15150 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
paginatorReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Hex packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
There is a vulnerability in Paginator (Elixir/Hex package) which makes it susceptible to Remote Code Execution (RCE) attacks via input parameters to the paginate() function. This will potentially affect all current users of Paginator prior to version 1.0.0. The vulnerability has been patched in version 1.0.0 and all users should upgrade to this version immediately. Note that this patched version uses a dependency that requires an Elixir version >=1.5.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💧Hex | paginator | all versions | 1.0.0mix deps.update paginator |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for paginator, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update paginator to 1.0.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15150 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2020-15150 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2020-15150. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-15150 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2020-15150 across Hex dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.