CVE-2020-15278 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-863 vulnerability in red-discordbot. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2020-15278 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Unauthorized privilege escalation in Mod module
Real-World Exposure
red-discordbotReal-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
Red Discord Bot before version 3.4.1 has an unauthorized privilege escalation exploit 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 is possible to perform destructive actions within the guild the user has high privileges in. This exploit has been fixed in version 3.4.1. As a workaround, 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.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | red-discordbot | all versions | 3.4.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for red-discordbot. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
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
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 pinpoints whether CVE-2020-15278 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2020-15278. 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-2020-15278 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2020-15278 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.