CVE-2020-17496
Vbulletin 5.5.4 – 5.6.2
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2020-17496 is a critical-severity Injection (CWE-74) vulnerability in Vbulletin Vbulletin. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 0.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
vBulletin versions 5.5.4 through 5.6.2 contain a remote command execution vulnerability that stems from insufficient handling of crafted subWidgets data supplied to the ajax/render/widget_tabbedcontainer_tab_panel endpoint. The flaw is an incomplete remediation of the earlier CVE-2019-16759 issue and is tracked under CWE-74. It received a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible attack vectors that require no authentication or user interaction.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can submit a malicious request containing manipulated subWidgets parameters to execute arbitrary operating-system commands on the underlying server, resulting in full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. Public exploit details demonstrate that the same widget-tab rendering path used in prior attacks remains reachable after the partial patch.
The official vBulletin security announcement addresses the issue in later releases and urges administrators to apply the vendor-supplied updates for versions 5.6.0 and above. Independent analysis of the patch confirms that the widget data deserialization logic was not fully hardened, allowing continued exploitation until the corrected code is deployed.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2020-9444
Vulnerability Data
vBulletin 5.5.4 through 5.6.2 allows remote command execution via crafted subWidgets data in an ajax/render/widget_tabbedcontainer_tab_panel request. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2019-16759.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 03 November 2021
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V1.2.1V1.2.3V1.2.5V1.2.8
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Developer assessments and testing (including injection-focused techniques) identify improper neutralization of special elements, and the verifiable flaw remediation corrects them pre-deployment.
Identifies indicators of injection attacks (command, SQL, LDAP, etc.) via anomaly and attack monitoring.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and output encoding that prevent injection flaws.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development catches injection vulnerabilities before release.
Logging supports detection of injection attempts but does not prevent the weakness.
Monitoring activities can identify active injection attacks after they occur.
Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and output encoding that directly prevent injection flaws.
Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against injection attacks in software design.
Secure architecture principles reduce injection surfaces but do not prescribe specific neutralization techniques.