{"id":"CVE-2020-12880","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2020-12880","generatedAt":"2026-10-27T23:29:49.037Z","title":"An issue was discovered in Pulse Policy Secure (PPS) and Pulse Connect Secure (PCS) Virtual Appliance before 9.1R8.","description":"An issue was discovered in Pulse Policy Secure (PPS) and Pulse Connect Secure (PCS) Virtual Appliance before 9.1R8. By manipulating a certain kernel boot parameter, it can be tricked into dropping into a root shell in a pre-install phase where the entire source code of the appliance is available and can be retrieved. (The source code is otherwise inaccessible because the appliance has its hard disks encrypted, and no root shell is available during normal operation.)","published":"2020-07-27T23:15:12.000Z","lastModified":"2026-06-17T02:52:29.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"cve@mitre.org","cvss":{"version":"3.1","score":5.5,"severity":"MEDIUM","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"},"cwe":[],"affected":["ivanti/connect secure","pulsesecure/pulse connect secure","ivanti/policy secure","pulsesecure/pulse policy secure"],"epss":{"score":0.00476,"percentile":0.40875,"date":"2026-10-26","history":[]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":0,"verified":false,"firstPublished":null,"source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[]},"verdict":{"level":"low","text":"Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.48%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own."},"changes":[],"references":[{"url":"https://kb.pulsesecure.net/?atype=sa","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44516","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://kb.pulsesecure.net/?atype=sa","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44516","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-12880","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}