# CVE-2020-11581: Command injection in n/a

> A man-in-the-middle attacker can execute arbitrary OS commands on Pulse Secure clients via the Host Checker applet.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 6 Apr 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-7xjp-88f4-r966

## What is CVE-2020-11581?

CVE-2020-11581 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Pulsesecure Pulse Connect Secure, published on 6 Apr 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Pulse Secure Pulse Connect Secure (PCS) through 2020-04-06. The applet in tncc.jar, executed on macOS, Linux, and Solaris clients when a Host Checker policy is enforced, allows a man-in-the-middle attacker to perform OS command injection attacks (against a client) via shell metacharacters to the doCustomRemediateInstructions method, because Runtime.getRuntime().exec() is used.

Weakness: CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-11581?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Pulsesecure Pulse Connect Secure, Pulsesecure Pulse Policy Secure.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-11581?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-11581 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-11581 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-11581 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Pulsesecure Pulse Connect Secure

- [CVE-2018-5299](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-5299/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-11580](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11580/): Security feature bypass in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2020-11582](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11582/): Other in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-11193](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11193/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-11196](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11196/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-11581 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-11581 is a high-severity command injection vulnerability in Pulsesecure Pulse Connect Secure, published on 6 Apr 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-11581 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Pulsesecure Pulse Connect Secure. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11581/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11581/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-11581
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-11581
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-11581

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11581/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.