How severe is CVE-2020-8816?

CVE-2020-8816 has a CVSS score of 7.2/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-8816?

Affected package information for CVE-2020-8816 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2020-8816?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2020-8816 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2020-8816 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 13 known exploit references for CVE-2020-8816, including 1 documented proof-of-concept exploit on Exploit-DB and 9 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-2020-8816?

CVE-2020-8816 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 90.8%, placing it in the 100th 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. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2020-8816 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2020-8816 (Pi-Hole AdminLTE Remote Code Execution Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2021-12-10. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-06-10. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. 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-2020-8816?

CVE-2020-8816 is classified as OS Command Injection (CWE-78). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2020-8816 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-8816 was published on May 29, 2020 and was last updated on April 10, 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·Added 2021-12-10 — agencies required to remediate by 2022-06-10

CVE-2020-8816

HIGH

Published

May 29, 2020

Updated

Apr 10, 2026

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

13 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

90.8%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk100th percentile0.00%

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.

Description

Pi-hole Web v4.3.2 (aka AdminLTE) allows Remote Code Execution by privileged dashboard users via a crafted DHCP static lease.

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.

EDB-48727webappspython

Pi-hole 4.3.2 - Remote Code Execution (Authenticated)

by Luis Vacacas · Aug 4, 2020

Exploit-DB Source

Frequently Asked Questions

Pi-hole Web v4.3.2 (aka AdminLTE) allows Remote Code Execution by privileged dashboard users via a crafted DHCP static lease.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2020-8816 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2020-8816 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my stack How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

7.2/10

CVSS v3 base score

Vector breakdown

AV:Attack Vector

Network

AC:Attack Complexity

Low

PR:Privileges Required

High

UI:User Interaction

None

S:Scope

Unchanged

C:Confidentiality

High

I:Integrity

High

A:Availability

High

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE Classification

CWE-78OS Command Injection

Weaponization

No known public exploit tooling found.

OpenSSF Scorecard

Package health score

AdminLTE

7.5/10

Maintained10/10

Code-Review10/10

Branch-ProtectionN/A

Assessed Jun 8, 2026

Timeline

Disclosed

May 29, 2020

First exploit

Aug 4, 2020

KEV added

Dec 10, 2021

Last updated

Apr 10, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2020-8816

References

Advisorypacketstormsecurity.com Advisorypacketstormsecurity.com Advisorygithub.com Fixgithub.com Fixgithub.com Webtwitter.com Webcisa.gov Evidencenatedotred.wordpress.com

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