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CVE-2020-17496

vBulletin 5.5.4 through 5.6.2 allows remote command execution via crafted subWidgets data in an ajax/render/widget_tabbedcontainer_tab_panel...

Basic Information

CVE State
PUBLISHED
Reserved Date
August 12, 2020
Published Date
August 12, 2020
Last Updated
July 30, 2025
Vendor
n/a
Product
n/a
Description
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.
Tags
cisa nuclei_scanner metasploit_scanner

CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1

9.8 - CRITICAL

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

CVSS v2.0

7.5

Vector: AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

SSVC Information

Exploitation
active
Automatable
Yes
Technical Impact
total

Exploit Status

Exploited in the Wild
Yes (2025-05-09 00:00:00 UTC) Source
Proof of Concept Available
Yes (added 2020-08-20 12:20:03 UTC) Source

References

https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/78.html https://blog.exploitee.rs/2020/exploiting-vbulletin-a-tale-of-patch-fail/ https://forum.vbulletin.com/forum/vbulletin-announcements/vbulletin-announcements_aa/4445227-vbulletin-5-6-0-5-6-1-5-6-2-security-patch https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Aug/5

Known Exploited Vulnerability Information

Source Added Date
CISA 2021-11-03 00:00:00 UTC

Scanner Integrations

Scanner URL Date Detected
Metasploit https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/multi/http/vbulletin_widget_template_rce.rb 2025-04-29 11:01:24 UTC
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2020/CVE-2020-17496.yaml 2025-04-26 00:00:00 UTC

Potential Proof of Concepts

Warning: These PoCs have not been tested and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

vbulletin_widget_template_rce

Type: metasploit • Created: Unknown

Metasploit module for CVE-2020-17496

ctlyz123/CVE-2020-17496

Type: github • Created: 2020-08-20 12:20:03 UTC • Stars: 1

Timeline

  • CVE ID Reserved

  • CVE Published to Public

  • Proof of Concept Exploit Available

  • Added to KEVIntel

  • Detected by Nuclei

  • Detected by Metasploit