CVE-2020-8219
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 · uneditedAn insufficient permission check vulnerability exists in Pulse Connect Secure <9.1R8 that allows an attacker to change the password of a full administrator.
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 confidenceAn insufficient permission check vulnerability in Pulse Connect Secure versions before 9.1R8 allows an authenticated attacker to change the password of a full administrator account, enabling complete compromise of the VPN device through privilege escalation.
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= 9.1<= 9.0= 9.1<= 9.0CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed product versionAccess the admin console and navigate to System > Status, or use the command line and run 'show system information' to retrieve the exact version numberAffected if The version is Pulse Connect Secure 9.1 (any build) or version 9.0 or earlier, or Pulse Policy Secure 9.1 or 9.0/earlier, or Ivanti Connect Secure 9.1 or Ivanti Policy Secure 9.1
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Verify admin interface accessibilityConfirm the admin web interface (typically port 443) is reachable on the device. Check firewall rules and network ACLs that permit access to the admin UIAffected if The admin interface is exposed to network segments containing users other than trusted administrators
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Review administrator accountsNavigate to Users > Administrative Users in the admin console and list all full administrator accounts configured on the systemAffected if One or more full administrator accounts exist on the device
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Check user authentication realmsExamine Authentication > Auth Servers and User Realms to identify which user realms have access to the admin interface or privilege escalation pathsAffected if Any user realm other than dedicated administrator-only realms can authenticate to the system, providing a potential attacker with the authentication required to exploit the permission flaw
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Confirm password change capability exposureReview the administrative access control settings to determine if lower-privilege users can access administrator password modification functionsAffected if Non-administrative users or administrators with limited roles have any access pathway to change full administrator account passwords
Your environment is affected if you run any version of Pulse Connect Secure, Pulse Policy Secure, Ivanti Connect Secure, or Ivanti Policy Secure in the 9.0 through 9.1 range and your admin interface is accessible to authenticated users who are not full administrators.
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.
From vendor dataUpgrade Pulse Connect Secure to version 9.1R8 or later to obtain the patched permission validation logic that properly enforces role-based access controls for administrator password changes.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8219 — 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-2020-8219 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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