CVE-2020-17496

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 9.8 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: cisa_kev, epss, ghsa, nvd
Trending — 4 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS PROB: 88%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: cisa kev · ssvc active · Metasploit · epss top5pct · epss high · public exploitExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

vBulletin 5.5.4 through 5.6.2 allows remote command execution via crafted subWidgets data in an ajax/render/widget_tabbedcontainer_tab_panel request. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2019-16759.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(high)
EG Risk
99(Act)
EG Risk 99/100SSVC: Act

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation100% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
Action: Fix now — active exploitation, automatable, high impact.
EPSS PROB
88%
EPSS %ILE
100%
KEV
⚠ Exploited

Published

August 12, 2020

Last Modified

November 7, 2025

Advisory Details (4)

Auto-updated Sep 17, 2026
⚠️ Active exploitation confirmed. Patch available. Sources: cisa.
cisa Patch Available🔴 Active Exploitation

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA. Listed in CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-17496
generic

Full Disclosure: Remote Code Execution 0day in vBulletin 5.x

https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Aug/5
generic🔴 Active Exploitation

CWE - CWE-78: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection') (4.20)

https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/78.html
generic🟡 PoC Available

Exploitee.rs » Blog Archive » Exploiting vBulletin: “A Tale of a Patch Fail”

https://blog.exploitee.rs/2020/exploiting-vbulletin-a-tale-of-patch-fail/

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 52× in last 7d / 231× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 803 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-19 18:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-09-19 15:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-09-19 11:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-09-19 07:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-09-19 03:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-09-18 23:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-09-18 19:56 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-09-18 19:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-09-18 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-09-18 19:20 UTCCISA KEV update
  11. 2026-09-18 16:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-09-18 14:15 UTCCISA KEV update
  13. 2026-09-18 12:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-09-18 08:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-09-18 04:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  16. 2026-09-18 00:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-09-17 21:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-09-17 17:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-09-17 12:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-09-17 08:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-09-17 04:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-09-17 01:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-09-16 21:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-09-16 17:28 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-09-16 17:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-09-16 14:10 UTCCISA KEV update
  2. 2026-09-16 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-16 13:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-09-16 09:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-09-16 05:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-09-16 02:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
  7. 2026-09-15 22:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-09-15 18:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  9. 2026-09-15 14:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-09-15 10:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  11. 2026-09-15 07:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-09-15 03:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
  13. 2026-09-14 23:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-09-14 19:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-09-14 19:24 UTCCISA KEV update
  16. 2026-09-14 15:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-09-14 12:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  18. 2026-09-14 08:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-09-14 04:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-09-14 00:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-09-13 20:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-09-13 16:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-09-13 13:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-09-13 09:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-09-13 05:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  26. 2026-09-13 01:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
  27. 2026-09-12 21:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-09-12 18:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  29. 2026-09-12 14:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-09-12 10:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  31. 2026-09-12 06:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-09-12 02:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  33. 2026-09-11 23:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
  34. 2026-09-11 19:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-09-11 18:49 UTCCISA KEV update
  36. 2026-09-11 15:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  37. 2026-09-11 11:38 UTCEG score recompute
  38. 2026-09-11 11:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  39. 2026-09-11 09:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-09-11 07:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  41. 2026-09-11 03:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  42. 2026-09-11 00:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  43. 2026-09-10 20:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  44. 2026-09-10 19:28 UTCCISA KEV update
  45. 2026-09-10 16:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  46. 2026-09-10 12:44 UTCEG score recompute
  47. 2026-09-10 12:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-09-10 09:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-09-10 08:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
  50. 2026-09-10 05:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  51. 2026-09-10 01:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
  52. 2026-09-09 21:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  53. 2026-09-09 19:08 UTCCISA KEV update
  54. 2026-09-09 17:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
  55. 2026-09-09 13:48 UTCGHSA enrichment
  56. 2026-09-09 10:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  57. 2026-09-09 06:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  58. 2026-09-09 02:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  59. 2026-09-08 22:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  60. 2026-09-08 18:54 UTCCISA KEV update
  61. 2026-09-08 18:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  62. 2026-09-08 14:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  63. 2026-09-08 10:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  64. 2026-09-08 07:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  65. 2026-09-08 03:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
  66. 2026-09-07 23:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
  67. 2026-09-07 19:41 UTCEG score recompute
  68. 2026-09-07 19:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  69. 2026-09-07 15:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-09-07 15:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
  71. 2026-09-07 12:04 UTCGHSA enrichment
  72. 2026-09-07 08:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
  73. 2026-09-07 04:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
  74. 2026-09-07 00:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  75. 2026-09-06 20:46 UTCGHSA enrichment

Publicly available exploits

(3 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCludy-dev/vBulletin_5.x-tab_panel-RCE
    First seen Sep 3, 2020

    (CVE-2020-17496) vBulletin 5.x Widget_tabbedcontainer_tab_panel RCE Vuln Test script

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/multi/http/vbulletin_widget_template_rce✓ verified
    First seen Aug 9, 2020

    vBulletin 5.x /ajax/render/widget_tabbedcontainer_tab_panel PHP remote code execution.

    Open source ↗
  • Nucleihttp/cves/2020/CVE-2020-17496.yaml
    First seen Jan 1, 2020

    vBulletin 5.5.4 - 5.6.2- Remote Command Execution

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2020-17496?
CVE-2020-17496 is a critical vulnerability published on August 12, 2020. vBulletin 5.5.4 through 5.6.2 allows remote command execution via crafted subWidgets data in an ajax/render/widgettabbedcontainertab_panel request. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2019-16759.
When was CVE-2020-17496 disclosed?
CVE-2020-17496 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 12, 2020, with the most recent update on November 7, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2020-17496 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2020-17496 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on November 3, 2021, affecting vBulletin vBulletin. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate patching attention.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-17496?
CVE-2020-17496 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
Which products are affected by CVE-2020-17496?
CVE-2020-17496 affects vBulletin vBulletin. The full affected-products list, including version ranges and fixed versions, is shown in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2020-17496?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2020-17496, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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