How severe is CVE-2020-3153?

CVE-2020-3153 has a CVSS score of 6.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which products are affected by CVE-2020-3153?

CVE-2020-3153 affects the following products: cisco anyconnect secure mobility client.

How do I patch CVE-2020-3153?

Apply the cisco anyconnect secure mobility client security patch or hotfix for CVE-2020-3153 on the affected version, following the vendor advisory for your exact build.

How do I detect CVE-2020-3153 across my infrastructure?

Inventory every cisco anyconnect secure mobility client deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.

How do I mitigate CVE-2020-3153 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.

Is CVE-2020-3153 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 10 known exploit references for CVE-2020-3153, including 8 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-3153?

CVE-2020-3153 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 28.3%, placing it in the 98th 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 warrants monitoring and prompt remediation.

Is CVE-2020-3153 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2020-3153 (Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows Uncontrolled Search Path Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2022-10-24. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-11-14. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. This CVE has been used in known ransomware campaigns. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-3153?

CVE-2020-3153 is classified as CWE-427 (CWE-427). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2020-3153?

CVE-2020-3153 affects cisco anyconnect secure mobility client. Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2020-3153 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-3153 was published on February 19, 2020 and was last updated on August 12, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🛡️

CISA KEV · ACTIVELY EXPLOITED

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2020-3153 — Anyconnect Secure Mobility Client

MEDIUM

CVE-2020-3153 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-427 vulnerability in cisco anyconnect secure mobility client. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-10-24) and has been used in ransomware campaigns — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. A fix is available — see the affected versions and patch details below.

A vulnerability in the installer component of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows could allow an authenticated local attacker to copy user-supplied files to system level…

Published

Feb 19, 2020

Updated

Aug 12, 2026

Affected

1 product

Patched

See advisory

Exploits

10 known

Exploitation data as of Oct 22, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

Actively exploited in the wild

Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-10-24 — including use in ransomware campaigns. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-11-14.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2020-3153.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

28.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Moderate Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs98th percentile — riskier than 98% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

How urgent is this, really

CVE-2020-3153 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.

Where this sits among everything scored

Of 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 10–50% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.

Description

A vulnerability in the installer component of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows could allow an authenticated local attacker to copy user-supplied files to system level directories with system level privileges. The vulnerability is due to the incorrect handling of directory paths. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by creating a malicious file and copying the file to a system directory. An exploit could allow the attacker to copy malicious files to arbitrary locations with system level privileges. This could include DLL pre-loading, DLL hijacking, and other related attacks. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker needs valid credentials on the Windows system.

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

anyconnect secure mobility clientcisco

< 4.8.02042

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.