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.
CVE-2020-3153
Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-10-24), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 6.5 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 6.5
- EG Score
- 9.0(high)
- EG Risk
- 81(Attend)EG Risk 81/100SSVC: Attend
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 computedSeverity90% × 45%Exploitation100% × 40%Automatability0% × 15%Action: Remediate soon — notable exploitation risk. - EPSS
- 97.9%
- KEV
- ⚠ Exploited
Published
February 19, 2020
Last Modified
October 28, 2025
Advisory Details (4)
Auto-updated Jun 12, 2026Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for Windows Uncontrolled Search Path Vulnerability
https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-ac-win-path-traverse-qO4HWBsjFull Disclosure: Cisco AnyConnect elevation of privileges due to insecure handling of path names
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Apr/43Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 57× in last 7d / 229× 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 416 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-07-23 01:52 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 21:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 21:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-22 19:40 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-22 17:53 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 17:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-22 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-22 13:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-22 09:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-22 05:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-22 01:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-21 21:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-21 17:27 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-21 17:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 14:37 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-21 13:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-21 09:19 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-21 05:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-21 01:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-20 21:05 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-20 21:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-20 16:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-20 12:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-20 08:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-20 04:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-19 20:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-19 16:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-19 12:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-19 08:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-19 04:20 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-19 04:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 00:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-18 20:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-18 16:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-18 12:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-18 12:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-18 07:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-18 03:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-17 23:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-17 19:46 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-17 15:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-17 11:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-17 07:33 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-17 07:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-17 03:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 23:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 19:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 17:04 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 15:15 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 11:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 07:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 03:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 22:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 18:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:49 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-15 15:04 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-15 14:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 10:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 06:40 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 02:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 22:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 18:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 18:05 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-14 14:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 10:18 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 06:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 02:10 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 22:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 18:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 17:07 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-13 13:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 09:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 05:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 01:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-12 21:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-12 17:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-12 13:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-12 09:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-12 05:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 05:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-12 01:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-11 21:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-11 17:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-11 13:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-11 08:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
Publicly available exploits
(3 references)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (2 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Metasploitexploit/windows/local/anyconnect_lpe✓ verifiedFirst seen Aug 5, 2020
Cisco AnyConnect Privilege Escalations (CVE-2020-3153 and CVE-2020-3433)
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCgoichot/CVE-2020-3153First seen May 19, 2020
Cisco AnyConnect < 4.8.02042 privilege escalation through path traversal
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCshubham0d/CVE-2020-3153First seen May 4, 2020
POC code for CVE-2020-3153 - Cisco anyconnect path traversal vulnerability
Open source ↗
Frequently asked(6)
What is CVE-2020-3153?
When was CVE-2020-3153 disclosed?
Is CVE-2020-3153 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-3153?
Which products are affected by CVE-2020-3153?
How do I remediate CVE-2020-3153?
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2020-3153
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