How severe is CVE-2020-15278?

CVE-2020-15278 has a CVSS score of 7.5/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-15278?

CVE-2020-15278 affects the following packages: red-discordbot (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2020-15278?

Update red-discordbot to 3.4.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15278 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2020-15278 in my PyPI dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for red-discordbot, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2020-15278 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.

Is CVE-2020-15278 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2020-15278 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-15278?

CVE-2020-15278 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.1%, placing it in the 64th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-15278?

CVE-2020-15278 is classified as CWE-863 (CWE-863). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2020-15278 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-15278 was published on October 28, 2020 and was last updated on July 9, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐍

🐍 PyPI

Not in CISA KEV

HIGH severity

CVE-2020-15278 — red-discordbot

HIGHFix: Cog-Creators/Red-DiscordBot@726bfd3

CVE-2020-15278 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-863 vulnerability in red-discordbot. A fix is available for red-discordbot — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Unauthorized privilege escalation in Mod module

Also known asGHSA-mp9m-g7qj-6vqrPYSEC-2020-267

Published

Oct 28, 2020

Updated

Jul 9, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Oct 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs64th percentile — riskier than 64% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2020-15278 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

🐍red-discordbot

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Impact

An unauthorized privilege escalation exploit has been discovered in the Mod module: this exploit allows Discord users with a high privilege level within the guild to bypass hierarchy checks when the application is in a specific condition that is beyond that user's control. By abusing this exploit, it's possible to perform destructive actions within the guild the user has high privileges in.

Patches

This exploit has been fixed on version & 3.4.1.

Workarounds

Unloading the Mod module with unload mod or, disabling the massban command with command disable global massban can render this exploit not accessible. We still highly recommend updating to 3.4.1 to completely patch this issue.

References

https://github.com/Cog-Creators/Red-DiscordBot/commit/726bfd38adfdfaef760412a68e01447b470f438b

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Open an issue in Cog-Creators/Red-DiscordBot
Over on our Discord server

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`red-discordbot`	all versions	3.4.1`pip install --upgrade 'red-discordbot==3.4.1'`

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

red discord botcogboard

< 3.4.1

range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for red-discordbot, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update red-discordbot to 3.4.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-15278 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact An unauthorized privilege escalation exploit has been discovered in the Mod module: this exploit allows Discord users with a high privilege level within the guild to bypass hierarchy checks when the application is in a specific condition that is beyond that user's control. By abusing this exploit, it's possible to perform destructive actions within the guild the user has high privileges in. ### Patches This exploit has been fixed on version & ``3.4.1``. ### Workarounds Unloading the Mod module with ``unload mod`` __or__, disabling the ``massban`` command with ``command disable glo