CVE-2020-13162
Detail
Modified After Enrichment This CVE record has been updated after NVD enrichment efforts were completed. Enrichment data supplied by the NVD may require amendment due to these changes.
Description
A time-of-check time-of-use vulnerability in PulseSecureService.exe in Pulse Secure Client versions prior to 9.1.6 down to 5.3 R70 for Windows (which runs as NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM) allows unprivileged users to run a Microsoft Installer executable with elevated privileges.
Metrics
CVSS Version 4.0
CVSS Version 3.x
CVSS Version 2.0
NVD enrichment efforts reference publicly available information to associate
vector strings. CVSS information contributed by other sources is also
displayed.
CVSS 4.0 Severity and Vector Strings:
NVD assessment
not yet provided.
CVSS 3.x Severity and Vector Strings:
Vector:
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.0 Severity and Vector Strings:
Vector:
(AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C)
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
By selecting these links, you will be leaving NIST webspace.
We have provided these links to other web sites because they
may have information that would be of interest to you. No
inferences should be drawn on account of other sites being
referenced, or not, from this page. There may be other web
sites that are more appropriate for your purpose. NIST does
not necessarily endorse the views expressed, or concur with
the facts presented on these sites. Further, NIST does not
endorse any commercial products that may be mentioned on
these sites. Please address comments about this page to [email protected]
URL
Source(s)
Tag(s)
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158117/Pulse-Secure-Client-For-Windows-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html
CVE, MITRE
Third Party Advisory
VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159065/Pulse-Secure-Windows-Client-Privilege-Escalation.html
CVE, MITRE
Third Party Advisory
VDB Entry
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Jun/25
CVE, MITRE
Mailing List
Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Sep/15
CVE, MITRE
Mailing List
Third Party Advisory
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/?atype=sa
CVE, MITRE
Vendor Advisory
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44503
CVE, MITRE
Vendor Advisory
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1262551597990711296
CVE, MITRE
Third Party Advisory
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1272927080909623297
CVE, MITRE
Third Party Advisory
https://twitter.com/sepcali/status/1262551597990711296
CVE, MITRE
Third Party Advisory
https://www.redtimmy.com/privilege-escalation/pulse-secure-client-for-windows-9-1-6-toctou-privilege-escalation-cve-2020-13162/
CVE, MITRE
Exploit
Third Party Advisory
Weakness Enumeration
CWE-ID
CWE Name
Source
CWE-367
Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
NIST
CISA-ADP
Change History
12 change records found show changes
CVE Modified by CISA-ADP
6/16/2026 10:52:43 PM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
SSVC
{"timestamp":"2025-04-23T13:29:43.978282Z","id":"CVE-2020-13162","options":[{"exploitation":"poc"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"role":"CISA Coordinator","version":"2.0.3"}
CVE Modified by MITRE
6/16/2026 10:52:43 PM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
Affected
[{"vendor":"n/a","product":"n/a","versions":[{"version":"n/a","status":"affected"}]}]
CVE Modified by CISA-ADP
5/05/2025 1:15:58 PM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
CVSS V3.1
AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Added
CWE
CWE-367
CVE Modified by CVE
11/21/2024 12:00:46 AM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
Reference
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158117/Pulse-Secure-Client-For-Windows-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html
Added
Reference
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159065/Pulse-Secure-Windows-Client-Privilege-Escalation.html
Added
Reference
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Jun/25
Added
Reference
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Sep/15
Added
Reference
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/?atype=sa
Added
Reference
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44503
Added
Reference
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1262551597990711296
Added
Reference
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1272927080909623297
Added
Reference
https://twitter.com/sepcali/status/1262551597990711296
Added
Reference
https://www.redtimmy.com/privilege-escalation/pulse-secure-client-for-windows-9-1-6-toctou-privilege-escalation-cve-2020-13162/
CVE Modified by MITRE
5/14/2024 2:22:46 AM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Modified Analysis by NIST
3/01/2023 11:02:05 AM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Changed
Reference Type
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159065/Pulse-Secure-Windows-Client-Privilege-Escalation.html No Types Assigned
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159065/Pulse-Secure-Windows-Client-Privilege-Escalation.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
Changed
Reference Type
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Sep/15 No Types Assigned
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Sep/15 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
CVE Modified by MITRE
9/04/2020 6:15:12 PM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
Reference
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159065/Pulse-Secure-Windows-Client-Privilege-Escalation.html [No Types Assigned]
CVE Modified by MITRE
9/04/2020 3:15:10 PM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
Reference
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Sep/15 [No Types Assigned]
Initial Analysis by NIST
6/23/2020 12:08:37 PM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
CVSS V3.1
NIST AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Added
CVSS V2
NIST (AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C)
Added
CWE
NIST CWE-367
Added
CPE Configuration
Record truncated, showing 2048 of 2655 characters.
View Entire Change Record OR
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r1.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r1.1:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r2.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r3.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r4.1:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r4.2:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r5.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r5.2:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r6.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:5.3:r7.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.0:r1.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.0:r2:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.0:r2.1:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.0:r3:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.0:r3.2:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.0:r4:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.0:r4.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.0:r5.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.0:r6.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r1.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r2.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r3.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r3.1:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r4.0:*:*:*:windows:*:*
*cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1
Changed
Reference Type
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158117/Pulse-Secure-Client-For-Windows-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html No Types Assigned
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158117/Pulse-Secure-Client-For-Windows-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
Changed
Reference Type
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Jun/25 No Types Assigned
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Jun/25 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
Changed
Reference Type
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/?atype=sa No Types Assigned
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/?atype=sa Vendor Advisory
Changed
Reference Type
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44503 No Types Assigned
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44503 Vendor Advisory
Changed
Reference Type
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1262551597990711296 No Types Assigned
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1262551597990711296 Third Party Advisory
Changed
Reference Type
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1272927080909623297 No Types Assigned
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1272927080909623297 Third Party Advisory
Changed
Reference Type
https://twitter.com/sepcali/status/1262551597990711296 No Types Assigned
https://twitter.com/sepcali/status/1262551597990711296 Third Party Advisory
Changed
Reference Type
https://www.redtimmy.com/privilege-escalation/pulse-secure-client-for-windows-9-1-6-toctou-privilege-escalation-cve-2020-13162/ No Types Assigned
https://www.redtimmy.com/privilege-escalation/pulse-secure-client-for-windows-9-1-6-toctou-privilege-escalation-cve-2020-13162/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory
CVE Modified by MITRE
6/17/2020 2:15:12 PM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
Reference
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Jun/25 [No Types Assigned]
Added
Reference
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1262551597990711296 [No Types Assigned]
Added
Reference
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1272927080909623297 [No Types Assigned]
Removed
Reference
https://github.com/sepcali [No Types Assigned]
Removed
Reference
https://twitter.com/sepcali [No Types Assigned]
Removed
Reference
https://twitter.com/sepcali/status/1262551277940211712 [No Types Assigned]
Removed
Reference
https://twitter.com/sepcali/status/1262551336152948738 [No Types Assigned]
CVE Modified by MITRE
6/17/2020 12:15:11 PM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
Reference
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44503 [No Types Assigned]
CVE Modified by MITRE
6/16/2020 5:15:11 PM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
Reference
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158117/Pulse-Secure-Client-For-Windows-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html [No Types Assigned]
Quick Info
CVE Dictionary Entry: CVE-2020-13162 NVD
Published Date: 06/16/2020 NVD
Last Modified: 06/16/2026
Source: MITRE
) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
