CVE-2020-15988

Insufficient policy enforcement in downloads in Google Chrome on Windows prior to 86.0.4240.75 allowed a remote attacker who convinced the user to open files to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTML page.

Published: 2020-11-03 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-15988 is rated Moderate Risk (53.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.29%). Mandatory action: 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-2020-15988

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 2025-11-21 1.08% 1.29% +0.21%
2 2025-11-18 1.29% 1.08% -0.21%
3 2025-03-30 1.29%

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-15988

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
2.8 3.4 [email protected]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-15988

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-15988

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-15988 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (chromium), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-15988
gentoo normal CVE-2020-15988: 1 GLSA(s) (202010-01), 2 atom(s) (www-client/chromium, www-client/google-chrome); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-15988
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-15988
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-15988 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (chromium-browser), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, focal, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 3, DNE 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-15988

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-15988

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
google chrome < 86.0.4240.75 cpe:2.3:a:google:chrome:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 31 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 32 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse backports_sle 15.0 cpe:2.3:a:opensuse:backports_sle:15.0:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-15988

cvelogic Threat Intelligence