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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 May 2022.
Manageengine Desktop CentralApplication · Zohocorp

CVE-2020-10189

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.479 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Zoho ManageEngine Desktop Central before 10.0.474 allows remote code execution because of deserialization of untrusted data in getChartImage in the FileStorage class. This is related to the CewolfServlet and MDMLogUploaderServlet servlets.

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 confidence

Zoho ManageEngine Desktop Central before version 10.0.474 contains a critical deserialization vulnerability in the FileStorage class's getChartImage method, exploitable through CewolfServlet and MDMLogUploaderServlet. Attackers can send crafted serialized objects via HTTP requests to achieve remote code execution without authentication.

MitigationUpgrade ManageEngine Desktop Central to version 10.0.474 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to the affected servlets via firewall or web application firewall rules.

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
Manageengine Desktop CentralApplication
Affected:< 10.0.479

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Desktop Central version
    Access the Desktop Central admin console or check the product's About/Version page, typically found under the Help or Administration menu. Alternatively, check the installation directory for version manifest files.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 10.0.479 (for example, 10.0.474, 10.0.400, or any version below 10.0.479).
  2. Confirm CewolfServlet is exposed
    Attempt to access the CewolfServlet endpoint via HTTP/HTTPS. The typical URL pattern is /cewolf/* or /servlets/cewolf. Use a web browser or curl to send a request to these paths.
    Affected if The servlet responds (even with an error) indicating it is active and reachable without authentication.
  3. Confirm MDMLogUploaderServlet is exposed
    Attempt to access the MDMLogUploaderServlet endpoint. The typical URL pattern is /MDMLogUploaderServlet or /servlets/MDMLogUploaderServlet. Send an HTTP request to this path.
    Affected if The servlet responds (even with an error) indicating it is active and reachable without authentication.
  4. Verify network accessibility
    Determine if the Desktop Central web interface is exposed to untrusted networks. Check firewall rules, reverse proxy configurations, or cloud security groups that allow inbound access to ports 8020, 8383, or the configured HTTP/HTTPS port.
    Affected if The servlets are reachable from untrusted networks (such as the internet or internal segments without proper access controls).

The environment is affected if Desktop Central version is below 10.0.479 AND at least one of the vulnerable servlets (CewolfServlet or MDMLogUploaderServlet) is accessible without authentication.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.0.479 or later
Fixed in 10.0.479
Interim mitigation

Upgrade ManageEngine Desktop Central to version 10.0.474 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to the affected servlets via firewall or web application firewall rules.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

ManageEngine Desktop Central 10.0.479 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current version of ManageEngine Desktop Central by checking the admin console or using the 'dcversion' file in the installation directory
  2. 2. Create a complete backup of the Desktop Central database and configuration files
  3. 3. Download the latest version of ManageEngine Desktop Central (10.0.479 or later) from the official ManageEngine downloads page: https://www.manageengine.com/products/desktop-central/
  4. 4. Stop the Desktop Central server services before applying the update
  5. 5. Apply the upgrade following the official upgrade guide from ManageEngine documentation
  6. 6. Restart the Desktop Central server services after the upgrade completes
  7. 7. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the version number in the admin console
  8. 8. Test critical functionality to ensure the RCE vulnerability is patched and the application is functioning properly
Caveat Standard enterprise software upgrade - review release notes for any feature changes or migration requirements before proceeding

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Manageengine Desktop Central Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-10189 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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