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NVD / CVE Program· CNA cisco

CVE-2020-3153: Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows Uncontrolled Search Path Vulnerability

MediumCVSS 6.5 · v3.1KEVWeaponized No fix recorded

Noroxi assessment

Priority: This week (action score 65/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Oct 24, 2022); it is known to be used in ransomware campaigns. Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Nov 14, 2022.
  • A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 28.5% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 98.1% of all records.
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
  • Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window. Until a fix is released, restrict access to the affected component and follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

A vulnerability in the installer component of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows could allow an authenticated local attacker to copy user-supplied files to system level directories with system level privileges. The vulnerability is due to the incorrect handling of directory paths. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by creating a malicious file and copying the file to a system directory. An exploit could allow the attacker to copy malicious files to arbitrary locations with system level privileges. This could include DLL pre-loading, DLL hijacking, and other related attacks. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker needs valid credentials on the Windows system.

Published
Feb 19, 2020
Updated
Aug 12, 2026
EPSS
28.5% · 98th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

65

This week

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window.

CVSS
26 / 40 · 6.5 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
9 / 30 · 28.5%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
6.5
CNA · cisco
6.5
agree

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Oct 24, 2022. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Nov 14, 2022.

Known to be used in ransomware campaigns.

Get told when this record changes

  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2020-3153

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits every 10 minutes on paid plans, on the hour on the free plan.

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  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools, at most 30 a day (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
ciscoanyconnect secure mobility client

Using anyconnect secure mobility client? Add it to your stack and be the first to know about CVEs like this one. (VPN gateway)

Watch new CVEs for anyconnect secure mobility client

When you'll hear from us

  • when a new CVE affecting this product is published
  • when a record in your stack enters KEV or is weaponized

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits every 10 minutes on paid plans, on the hour on the free plan.

Your free account also gets you

  • CVE alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools, at most 30 a day (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every Monday

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (cisco). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Cisco Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client

    • unspecified and later · before n/aaffected

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • cisco anyconnect secure mobility clientbefore 4.8.02042

Same product

cisco: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2020-3433Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows DLL Hijacking VulnerabilityKEV
    64This week
  • CVE-2011-2039The helper application in Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client (formerly AnyConnect VPN Client) before 2.3.185 on Windows, and on…
    51Plan
  • CVE-2011-2040The helper application in Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client (formerly AnyConnect VPN Client) before 2.5.3041, and 3.0.x before…
    40Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2018-0373Jun 21, 2018 · A vulnerability in vpnva-6.sys for 32-bit Windows and vpnva64-6.sys for 64-bit Windows of Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for…
    22Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-1853May 15, 2019 · Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Linux Out-of-Bounds Memory Read Vulnerability
    30Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2020-3434Aug 17, 2020 · Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows Denial of Service Vulnerability
    22Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

  • Metasploit module ×1
  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×3

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub3 repositories2020-05-04 → 2020-05-19
Metasploit moduleexploit/windows/local/anyconnect_lpeCisco AnyConnect Privilege Escalations (CVE-2020-3153 and CVE-2020-3433)exploit2020-08-05

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Published
  2. First PoC+74 d
  3. Metasploit+167 d
  4. CISA KEV+977 d
  5. TodayNov 14, 2026+2460 d

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
none

Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-427 · Uncontrolled Search Path Element

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records