CVE-2020-13162

Severity: high (CVSS 7.0 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2020-06-16 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-367

Description

A time-of-check time-of-use vulnerability in PulseSecureService.exe in Pulse Secure Client versions prior to 9.1.6 down to 5.3 R70 for Windows (which runs as NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM) allows unprivileged users to run a Microsoft Installer executable with elevated privileges.

Affected products

Pulse Secure Desktop Client: 5.3-r1.0, 5.3-r1.1, 5.3-r2.0, 5.3-r3.0, 5.3-r4.1, 5.3-r4.2 (+23)
Pulsesecure Pulse Secure Installer Service: 8.3, 9.1, 9.1-r5.0

References

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158117/Pulse-Secure-Client-For-Windows-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159065/Pulse-Secure-Windows-Client-Privilege-Escalation.html
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Jun/25
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Sep/15
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/?atype=sa
https://kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44503
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1262551597990711296
https://twitter.com/gsepcali/status/1272927080909623297
https://twitter.com/sepcali/status/1262551597990711296
https://www.redtimmy.com/privilege-escalation/pulse-secure-client-for-windows-9-1-6-toctou-privilege-escalation-cve-2020-13162/
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158117/Pulse-Secure-Client-For-Windows-Local-Privilege-Escalation.html
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159065/Pulse-Secure-Windows-Client-Privilege-Escalation.html

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