CVE-2020-8254

A vulnerability in the Pulse Secure Desktop Client < 9.1R9 has Remote Code Execution (RCE) if users can be convinced to connect to a malicious server. This vulnerability only affects Windows PDC.To improve the security of connections between Pulse clients and Pulse Connect Secure, see below recommendation(s):Disable Dynamic certificate trust for PDC.

Published: 2020-10-28 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-8254 is rated Moderate Risk (62.3/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.03%). 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-2020-8254

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 2.44% 2.03% -0.40%
2 2026-03-04 1.56% 2.44% +0.88%
3 2026-03-01 — 1.56% —

Full EPSS history (51 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-8254

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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: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.
 2.8 5.9 [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-2020-8254

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-8254

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client < 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:*:*:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r1:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r2:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r3:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r3.1:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r4:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r4.1:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r4.2:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r5:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r6:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r7:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r7.1:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r8:*:*:*:windows:*:*
pulsesecure pulse_secure_desktop_client 9.1 cpe:2.3:a:pulsesecure:pulse_secure_desktop_client:9.1:r8.2:*:*:*:windows:*:*

References for CVE-2020-8254

cvelogic Threat Intelligence