Cyber Resilience

CVE-2020-25223

RCE in Sophos Unified Threat Management ≤ 9.511

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCRCECommand Injection
Published
25 September 2020
Modified
07 November 2025
KEV Added
25 March 2022
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.97 99.9th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2020-25223 is a critical-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Sophos Unified Threat Management. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059); ranked in the top 0.1% 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.

A remote code execution vulnerability tracked as CVE-2020-25223 affects the WebAdmin interface of Sophos SG UTM versions prior to 9.705 MR5, 9.607 MR7, and 9.511 MR11. The flaw is classified under CWE-78 and carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible command injection without any required credentials or user interaction.

An unauthenticated attacker can send specially crafted requests to the WebAdmin component to inject and execute arbitrary operating-system commands. Successful exploitation grants the attacker full control over the affected appliance, including the ability to read, modify, or delete data and to disrupt availability.

Sophos has addressed the issue in the maintenance releases listed above, and the vendor advisory published via the Sophos community site recommends immediate upgrade for any installations still running the vulnerable builds. Public exploit code demonstrating SID-based command injection against the WebAdmin endpoint has been posted to Packet Storm, confirming that working proof-of-concept material is available.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the WebAdmin of Sophos SG UTM before v9.705 MR5, v9.607 MR7, and v9.511 MR11

CWE(s)
CWE-78
KEV Date Added
25 March 2022

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-7382Same vendor: Sophos
CVE-2025-6704Same vendor: Sophos
CVE-2023-39780Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2021-20035Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2026-39808Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2023-49897Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2024-6047Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2024-40890Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2025-48703Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2024-9463Shared CWE-78both on KEV

Affected Assets

sophos
unified threat management
9.511, 9.607, 9.705 · ≤ 9.511 · 9.600 — 9.607 · 9.700 — 9.705

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8
  • V15.2.5

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.

SC-27 Platform-independent Applications
addresses: CWE-78

Platform-independent apps typically execute inside a managed runtime or sandbox that restricts direct OS command execution, reducing the ability to exploit OS command injection.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-78

Validates inputs to block special elements that would alter OS command execution.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing and code review target insecure use of operating-system command interfaces, catching command-injection flaws introduced during development.

References