CVE-2020-24916 [Critical] | Command Injection in Yaws

CVE-2020-24916 is rated High Exploit Risk (93.3/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 44.26%, 97th percentile). 3 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +5.24% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-12-28	39.02%	44.26%	+5.24%
2	2025-12-27	44.26%	39.02%	-5.24%
3	2025-12-08	—	44.26%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-12-28

39.02%

44.26%

+5.24%

2025-12-27

44.26%

39.02%

-5.24%

2025-12-08

—

44.26%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
9.8	3.1	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` 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:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	3.9	5.9	[email protected]
10.0	2.0	HIGH	`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C` Click to expand Access vector (AV:N) Can be exploited remotely over network reachability. Access complexity (AC:L) Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable. Authentication (AU:N) No authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:C) Complete confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:C) Complete integrity impact. Availability impact (A:C) Complete availability impact.	10.0	10.0	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

9.8

3.1

CRITICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

3.9

5.9

[email protected]

10.0

2.0

HIGH

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand

Access vector (AV:N): Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L): Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N): No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C): Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C): Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C): Complete availability impact.

10.0

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-24916

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2020-24916 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (yaws), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-24916
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2020-24916 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (yaws), 16 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 10, needed 2, released 2, DNE 1, ignored 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-24916

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-24916

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
yaws	yaws	>= 1.81, <= 2.0.7	cpe:2.3:a:yaws:yaws::::::::
canonical	ubuntu_linux	18.04	cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04::::lts:::
debian	debian_linux	9.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:::::::*
debian	debian_linux	10.0	cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:::::::*

References for CVE-2020-24916

URL	Tags
https://github.com/erlyaws/yaws/commits/master	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/vulnbe/poc-yaws-cgi-shell-injection	Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/09/msg00022.html	Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159106/Yaws-2.0.7-XML-Injection-Command-Injection.html	Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4569-1/	Third Party Advisory
https://vuln.be/post/yaws-xxe-and-shell-injections/	Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4773	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2020-24916

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-24916

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-24916

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-24916

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-24916

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-24916

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-24916

References for CVE-2020-24916