# CVE-2020-12880: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Attackers can gain root access and retrieve source code by manipulating kernel boot parameters during the pre-install phase of Pulse Secure appliances.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 27 Jul 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6fx5-7h4w-mcvx

## What is CVE-2020-12880?

CVE-2020-12880 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Ivanti Connect Secure, published on 27 Jul 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Pulse Policy Secure (PPS) and Pulse Connect Secure (PCS) Virtual Appliance before 9.1R8. By manipulating a certain kernel boot parameter, it can be tricked into dropping into a root shell in a pre-install phase where the entire source code of the appliance is available and can be retrieved. (The source code is otherwise inaccessible because the appliance has its hard disks encrypted, and no root shell is available during normal operation.)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-12880?

It affects 4 products.


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

## How do I fix CVE-2020-12880?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-12880 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-12880 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-12880 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Ivanti Connect Secure

- [CVE-2021-22893](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22893/): Ivanti Pulse Connect Secure Use-After-Free (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-11510](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-11510/): Ivanti Pulse Connect Secure Arbitrary File Read (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-21887](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-21887/): Ivanti Connect Secure and Policy Secure Command Injection (critical 9.1, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-22457](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-22457/): Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, and ZTA Gateways Stack-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-0282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-0282/): Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, and ZTA Gateways Stack-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.0, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-12880 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-12880 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Ivanti Connect Secure, published on 27 Jul 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-12880 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Ivanti 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-2020-12880/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12880/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-12880
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-12880
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-12880

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12880/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.