CVE-2020-5794 Path traversal in Nessus Network Monitor

What is CVE-2020-5794?

CVE-2020-5794 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Nessus Network Monitor, published on 6 Nov 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A vulnerability in Nessus Network Monitor versions 5.11.0, 5.11.1, and 5.12.0 for Windows could allow an authenticated local attacker to execute arbitrary code by copying user-supplied files to a specially constructed path in a specifically named user directory. The attacker needs valid credentials on the Windows system to exploit this vulnerability.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-5794?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Tenable Nessus Network Monitor.

How do I fix CVE-2020-5794?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-5794 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2020-5794 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5794 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Nessus Network Monitor

• CVE-2024-9158 XSS High 8.4
• CVE-2025-24917 Improper Access Control leads to Local Privilege Escalation High 7.8
• CVE-2023-5624 Blind SQL Injection High 7.2
• CVE-2023-5622 Privilege Escalation High 7.1
• CVE-2025-24916 Improper Access Control leads to Local Priviledge Escalation High 7.0

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-58gc-6v7f-wqjg.