CVE-2020-9576
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 · uneditedMagento versions 2.3.4 and earlier, 2.2.11 and earlier (see note), 1.14.4.4 and earlier, and 1.9.4.4 and earlier have a command injection vulnerability. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution.
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 confidenceA command injection vulnerability in Magento allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands through unsanitized user input in vulnerable versions. This critical flaw enables complete system compromise by injecting malicious commands that are executed with the privileges of the web server process.
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<= 1.9.4.4<= 1.14.4.4>= 2.2.0, <= 2.2.11>= 2.3.0, <= 2.3.4CVSS 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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Identify your Magento installation versionLocate the version file: for Magento 1.x check app/Mage.php for the version constant, or for Magento 2.x check composer.json or var/cache/version.php. Run: grep -r 'MAGE_VERSION' app/ or cat composer.json | grep versionAffected if The version is 1.9.4.4 or earlier, 1.14.4.4 or earlier, between 2.2.0 and 2.2.11 inclusive, or between 2.3.0 and 2.3.4 inclusive
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Confirm the Magento edition (Community or Enterprise)For Magento 1.x check the license key in app/etc/config.xml. For Magento 2.x run: php bin/magento --version or check the license file in var/.htaccessAffected if Running any affected version regardless of edition as listed in step 1
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Verify the web server user has shell accessCheck which user the web server runs as (typically www-data, apache, or nginx) and confirm they have shell privileges: ps aux | grep -E 'apache|nginx|php-fpm'Affected if The web server process has shell execution capabilities, which is standard for most Magento deployments
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Review web server access logs for command injection patternsExamine access logs (usually in /var/log/apache2/, /var/log/nginx/, or /var/log/httpd/) for unusual GET/POST parameters containing shell metacharacters like ; | & $ ( ) or backticksAffected if Any suspicious requests matching injection patterns are found in the logs
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Check for newly created or modified PHP files in the web rootSearch for recently added PHP files in pub/, var/, or media/ directories: find pub/ var/ media/ -name '*.php' -mtime -7 (adjust days as needed). Also check for obfuscated code in existing PHP filesAffected if Unexpected PHP files exist or known Magento core files have been modified unexpectedly
You are affected if your installed Magento version falls within any of these ranges: 1.9.4.4 or lower, 1.14.4.4 or lower, 2.2.0 through 2.2.11, or 2.3.0 through 2.3.4, and the application is accessible over a network.
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 · scopedImmediately apply the official Magento security patches or upgrade to a patched version (Magento 2.3.5+, 2.2.12+, 1.14.4.5+, or 1.9.4.5+) to prevent remote code execution.
Magento 2.3.5 or later (2.2.x users: 2.2.12 or later; 1.x users: 1.9.4.5/1.14.4.5 with corresponding security patch)
- 1. Backup your Magento database and files completely before proceeding
- 2. For Magento 2.x: Run 'composer require magento/product-community-edition 2.3.5 --no-update' in your project root
- 3. For Magento 2.x: Run 'composer update' to fetch the new version
- 4. After composer update completes, clear the cache: rm -rf var/cache var/page_cache generated/code
- 5. Run the Magento upgrade command: php bin/magento setup:upgrade
- 6. Recompile DI if in production mode: php bin/magento setup:di:compile
- 7. Deploy static content: php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f
- 8. Set proper permissions on var, pub/static, and generated directories
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,656.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-9576 — 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-2020-9576 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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- 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