CVE-2020-25540 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in zoujingli/thinkadmin. 5 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
ThinkAdmin directory traversal vulnerability
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-2020-25540 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE sits: patch-first territory.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 376,715 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
zoujingli/thinkadminReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
ThinkAdmin v6 is affected by a directory traversal vulnerability. An unauthorized attacker can read arbitrarily file on a remote server via GET request encode parameter.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | zoujingli/thinkadmin | all versions | No fix |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
ThinkAdmin 6 - Arbitrarily File Read
by Hzllaga · Sep 15, 2020
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for zoujingli/thinkadmin, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of zoujingli/thinkadmin has shipped for CVE-2020-25540 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
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-2020-25540 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2020-25540. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
How to detect CVE-2020-25540
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2020-25540 -u https://target- Template
- ThinkAdmin 6 - Local File Inclusion
- Severity
- high
- Impact
- Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive files, remote code execution, and potential compromise of the entire system.
- Remediation
- Apply the latest patch or upgrade to a version that is not affected by the vulnerability.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (geeknik), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-25540 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2020-25540 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.