CVE-2020-10119
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedcPanel before 84.0.20 allows a demo account to achieve remote code execution via a cpsrvd rsync shell (SEC-544).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidencecPanel before version 84.0.20 contains a vulnerability in the cpsrvd daemon where a demo account can achieve remote code execution through the rsync shell functionality. This is a pre-authentication flaw allowing unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands on the affected system.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 84.0.20CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check cPanel versionRun: /usr/local/cpanel/cpanel -V or check /usr/local/cpanel/versionAffected if Version is less than 84.0.20 (e.g., 84.0.19, 82.x, etc.)
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Verify cpsrvd daemon is runningRun: ps aux | grep cpsrvd or systemctl status cpsrvdAffected if cpsrvd process is running on the system
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Check if rsync shell is accessibleInspect /etc/shells for presence of /usr/bin/rsync or check if rsync is listed as an available shellAffected if rsync shell is listed and potentially accessible to the demo account
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Check for demo account existenceRun: grep -i demo /etc/passwd or check /var/cpanel/users/ for demo accountAffected if A demo account exists on the system (this account can trigger the vulnerability)
If the cPanel version is below 84.0.20 AND the cpsrvd daemon is running, the system is potentially vulnerable to unauthenticated remote code execution via the rsync shell functionality.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped84.0.20
Upgrade cPanel to version 84.0.20 or later to remediate this vulnerability. If immediate patching is not possible, consider network-level restrictions to limit exposure to the cpsrvd service.
84.0.20
- Ensure you have a complete backup of the cPanel server before proceeding with any upgrade.
- SSH into your cPanel server as the root user.
- Run the cPanel update script to upgrade to the latest stable version: /scripts/upcp --force
- Verify the upgrade completed successfully by checking the cPanel version: whmapi1 version
- Confirm the version is 84.0.20 or later using: cat /usr/local/cpanel/version
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-10119 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-10119 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data