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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 7 Sep 2022.
Connect SecureApplication · Ivanti

CVE-2020-8218

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-07-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 9.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit Remotely reachable 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
A code injection vulnerability exists in Pulse Connect Secure <9.1R8 that allows an attacker to crafted a URI to perform an arbitrary code execution via the admin web interface.

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 · moderate confidence

A code injection vulnerability in Pulse Connect Secure versions before 9.1R8 allows authenticated or unauthenticated attackers (description suggests web interface access) to execute arbitrary code by submitting a specially crafted URI to the admin web interface.

MitigationUpgrade Pulse Connect Secure to version 9.1R8 or later to remediate the code injection vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict access to the admin web interface to trusted networks only.

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
Connect SecureApplication
Affected:<= 9.0= 9.1
Policy SecureApplication
Affected:= 9.1
Pulse Policy SecureApplication
Affected:<= 9.0

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/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 if Pulse Connect Secure or Pulse Policy Secure is installed
    Check the system for installation directories or running services. Common locations: /opt/pulse, /usr/local/pulse, or look for processes named 'pds' or 'mcs'. On Windows, check Program Files for Pulse Secure folders.
    Affected if The product is found on the system
  2. Determine the installed version
    Check the version file or admin interface. Common paths: /etc/pulse_version, /opt/pulse/version, or log into the admin web interface and check the System > Status or About page.
    Affected if Installed version is 9.0.x or 9.1.x (any release) - compare to affected ranges (9.0 and 9.1 are affected; versions prior to 9.1R8 are vulnerable)
  3. Verify the admin web interface is accessible
    Attempt to access the admin web interface URLs: https://<hostname>/admin or https://<hostname>/dana-admin. Check if port 443 or 4433 is open and responding.
    Affected if The admin web interface is reachable from the network (this is required for exploitation)
  4. Check if admin interface is exposed to untrusted networks
    Review firewall rules or network ACLs to determine if the admin web interface (ports 443, 4433) is accessible from outside the trusted management network.
    Affected if Admin interface is accessible from untrusted/broadband IP ranges rather than only from management networks

The environment is affected if Pulse Connect Secure versions 9.0.x or 9.1.x are installed AND the admin web interface is network-accessible, since the vulnerability allows code injection through crafted URIs to the admin interface.

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 a release after 9.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Pulse Connect Secure to version 9.1R8 or later to remediate the code injection vulnerability. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict access to the admin web interface to trusted networks only.

Recommended fix High confidence

9.1R8 or later (for Connect Secure, Policy Secure, and Pulse Policy Secure)

  1. Review the Pulse Connect Secure upgrade documentation and release notes for version 9.1R8
  2. Schedule a maintenance window and notify users of planned downtime
  3. Back up the current configuration and gather system state information
  4. Download the 9.1R8 or later firmware from the official Pulse Secure download portal
  5. Verify the integrity of the downloaded firmware using checksums provided by the vendor
  6. Test the upgrade in a non-production/staging environment first
  7. Upload the firmware through the admin web interface or CLI
  8. Monitor the upgrade process for any errors
Caveat Major firmware upgrades may require reconfiguration of some settings; always review release notes for breaking changes before upgrading

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

Fix this in Connect Secure Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
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  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-8218 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