CVE-2020-5296 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.9) CWE-73 vulnerability in october/cms. 2 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2020-5296 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Arbitrary File Deletion vulnerability in OctoberCMS
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.
Real-World Exposure
october/cmsReal-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
In OctoberCMS (october/october composer package) versions from 1.0.319 and before 1.0.466, an attacker can exploit this vulnerability to delete arbitrary local files of an October CMS server. The vulnerability is only exploitable by an authenticated backend user with the cms.manage_assets permission. Issue has been patched in Build 466 (v1.0.466).
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | october/cms | ≥ 1.0.319&&< 1.0.466 | 1.0.466 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for october/cms. 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 october/cms to 1.0.466 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-5296 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-2020-5296 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-2020-5296. 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-2020-5296 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2020-5296 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.