CVE-2020-14162
The local www-data user has sudo privileges to execute the pihole core script as root without a password, which could allow an attacker to obtain root access via shell metacharacters to this script's setdns command.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.59%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
An issue was discovered in Pi-Hole through 5.0. The local www-data user has sudo privileges to execute the pihole core script as root without a password, which could allow an attacker to obtain root access via shell metacharacters to this script's setdns command.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.59% probability · 48th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-78, CWE-269
- Affected
- pi-hole/pi-hole
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 0.6% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://0xpanic.github.io/2020/07/21/Pihole.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://docs.pi-hole.net/core/pihole-command/Vendor Advisory
- https://0xpanic.github.io/2020/07/21/Pihole.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://docs.pi-hole.net/core/pihole-command/Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.