CVE-2020-26538

An issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 10.1. It allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via a Trojan horse taskkill.exe in the current working directory.

Published: 2020-10-02 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-26538 is rated Moderate Risk (44.8/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.48%). 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-2020-26538

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 2026-06-15 0.01% 0.48% +0.47%
2 2025-03-17 0.06% 0.01% -0.05%
3 2023-03-07 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-26538

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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: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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
4.4 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
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.
 3.4 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-26538

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-26538

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
foxitsoftware foxit_reader < 10.1 cpe:2.3:a:foxitsoftware:foxit_reader:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
foxitsoftware phantompdf < 10.1 cpe:2.3:a:foxitsoftware:phantompdf:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-26538

cvelogic Threat Intelligence