CVE-2020-8865 Path traversal in Groupware Webmail Edition

What is CVE-2020-8865?

CVE-2020-8865 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 23 Mar 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute local PHP files on affected installations of Horde Groupware Webmail Edition 5.2.22. Authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within edit.php. When parsing the params[template] parameter, the process does not properly validate a user-supplied path prior to using it in file operations. An attacker can leverage this in conjunction with other vulnerabilities to execute code in the context of the www-data user. Was ZDI-CAN-10469.

Weakness: CWE-22, CWE-23

Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-8865?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Horde Groupware.

How do I fix CVE-2020-8865?

Apply the vendor's patch.

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

Is CVE-2020-8865 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-8865 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code: 2 Exploit-DB entries.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

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

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2020-8865, DLA-2175-1, GHSA-ggc2-fj6j-c7cc, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-8865.