NVD / CVE Program· CNA tenable

CVE-2020-5741: Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Plex Media Server on Windows allows a remote, authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary Python code.

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Now (action score 80/100)

CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Mar 10, 2023). Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Mar 31, 2023.
A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 72.7% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.4% of all records.
Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. Administrator privileges are required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Patch today or shut off access. 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

HighCVSS 7.2 · v3.1KEVWeaponized No fix recorded

BDU:2023-01527

Published: May 8, 2020
Updated: Jun 16, 2026
EPSS: 72.7% · 99th percentile
CWE: CWE-502

Report tools

JSON

Action score

Now

Patch today or shut off access.

CVSS: 28 / 40 · 7.2 / 10
CISA KEV: 30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS: 22 / 30 · 72.7%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation: active
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Mar 10, 2023. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Mar 31, 2023.

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.

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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.

Vendor	Product	CPE
plex	media server	cpe:2.3:a:plex:media_server
microsoft	windows	cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows

Affected versions

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

plex media serverbefore 1.19.3

Versions reported by the vendor

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

n/a Plex Media Server (Windows)
- Versions prior to 1.19.3affected

Same product

plex: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

CVE-2026-96656Plex Media Server arbitrary file writeKEV
65This week
CVE-2026-96654Plex Media Server URL injectionKEV
60This week
CVE-2026-96652Plex Media Server SSRFKEV
52Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

← EarlierCVE-2019-19141Dec 19, 2019 · The Camera Upload functionality in Plex Media Server through 1.18.2.2029 allows remote authenticated users to write files anywhere the user
36Monitor
← EarlierCVE-2020-5740Apr 22, 2020 · Improper Input Validation in Plex Media Server on Windows allows a local, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary Python code with SYS
31Monitor
Later →CVE-2020-5742Jun 15, 2020 · Improper Access Control in Plex Media Server prior to June 15, 2020 allows any origin to execute cross-origin application requests.
35Monitor

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 ×1

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
Source	Kind	Date
Metasploit module	exploit/windows/http/plex_unpickle_dict_rcePlex Unpickle Dict Windows RCEexploit	2020-05-07
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub	stars:0	2026-09-04

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.

MetasploitMay 7, 2020-1 d
PublishedMay 8, 2020
CISA KEVMar 10, 2023+1036 d
First PoCSep 4, 2026+2310 d
TodayOct 27, 2026+2363 d

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
Administrator privileges are required.
No user action is required.
No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality: high · data can be read
Integrity: high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability: high · the service can be disrupted

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: High
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-502 · Deserialization of Untrusted Data

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Root cause

Data received over the network is deserialized into the language’s native object format without verifying its source. Code paths inside the object can be triggered during deserialization.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-502 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

python

1payload = sock.recv(65536)
2job = pickle.loads(payload)

Fixed

python

1payload = sock.recv(65536)
2if not hmac.compare_digest(sign(payload), header_sig):
3    raise PermissionError("invalid signature")
4job = JobSchema.validate(json.loads(payload))