CVE-2020-15637

This vulnerability allows remote attackers to disclose sensitive information on affected installations of Foxit PhantomPDF 9.7.1.29511. User interaction is required to exploit this vulnerability in that the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file. The specific flaw exists within the SetLocalDescription method. By performing actions in JavaScript, an attacker can cause a pointer to be reused after it has been freed. An attacker can leverage this in conjunction with other vulnerabilities to execute code in the context of the current process. Was ZDI-CAN-10972.

Published: 2020-08-20 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-15637 is rated Moderate Risk (42.8/100): CVSS Low severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.76%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-15637

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-12-02 0.90% 1.76% +0.86%
2 2025-03-30 0.77% 0.90% +0.13%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.77% —

Full EPSS history (12 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-15637

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.3 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 1.4 [email protected]
3.3 3.0 LOW
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 1.4 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-15637

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-15637

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
foxitsoftware phantompdf <= 10.0.0.35798 cpe:2.3:a:foxitsoftware:phantompdf:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
foxitsoftware reader <= 10.0.0.35798 cpe:2.3:a:foxitsoftware:reader:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-15637

cvelogic Threat Intelligence