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Pulse Secure Desktop ClientApplication · Pulsesecure

CVE-2020-8239

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-28
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 9.1 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
A vulnerability in the Pulse Secure Desktop Client < 9.1R9 is vulnerable to the client registry privilege escalation attack. This fix also requires Server Side Upgrade due to Standalone Host Checker Client (Windows) and Windows PDC.

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

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Pulse Secure Desktop Client versions prior to 9.1R9, allowing a client registry attack that enables an attacker to elevate privileges on the affected system.

MitigationUpgrade Pulse Secure Desktop Client to version 9.1R9 or later, noting that the fix requires a server-side upgrade to address the Standalone Host Checker Client (Windows) and Windows PDC components.

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
Pulse Secure Desktop ClientApplication
Affected:< 9.1= 9.1

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. Verify Pulse Secure Desktop Client is installed
    Check Windows Registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for an entry named 'Pulse Secure' or inspect Add/Remove Programs for 'Pulse Secure Desktop Client'
    Affected if The software is present on the system
  2. Locate the Pulse Secure client executable
    Navigate to the installation directory, typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Pulse Secure\Pulse\ or C:\Program Files\Pulse Secure\Pulse\, and locate PulseClient.exe
    Affected if The executable exists at the expected path
  3. Retrieve the installed version number
    Right-click PulseClient.exe, select Properties, then view the Details tab for Product Version, or query the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Pulse Secure\Pulse\Client\Version if it exists
    Affected if A version number is returned from the executable or registry
  4. Compare version against affected range
    Compare the retrieved version to the affected versions: any version less than 9.1, or exactly 9.1 (the fixed version is 9.1R9)
    Affected if The installed version is 9.1 or any version below 9.1 (for example, 8.3, 9.0, 9.1)

If Pulse Secure Desktop Client is installed and the version is 9.1 or below (not 9.1R9 or later), the system is vulnerable to privilege escalation via the client registry attack.

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 9.1 or later
Fixed in 9.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Pulse Secure Desktop Client to version 9.1R9 or later, noting that the fix requires a server-side upgrade to address the Standalone Host Checker Client (Windows) and Windows PDC components.

Recommended fix High confidence

Pulse Secure Desktop Client 9.1R9

  1. Download Pulse Secure Desktop Client version 9.1R9 or later from the official Pulse Secure vendor site (kb.pulsesecure.net)
  2. Uninstall the current vulnerable Pulse Secure Desktop Client version (< 9.1R9)
  3. Install the fixed version 9.1R9
  4. Ensure the Pulse Connect Secure (PCS) or Pulse Policy Secure (PPS) server is also upgraded to a compatible version that supports the client update, as server-side upgrade is required due to Standalone Host Checker Client (Windows) and Windows PDC
Caveat Ensure server-side compatibility before upgrading client; client-server version mismatch may cause connection issues

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

Fix this in Pulse Secure Desktop Client Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2020-8239 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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