High severity · published Jul 30, 2020
CVE-2020-12620
Pi-hole 4.4 allows a user able to write to /etc/pihole/dns-servers.conf to escalate privileges through command injection (shell metacharacters after an IP address)
7.8
CVSS
1.5%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Pi-hole 4.4 allows a user able to write to /etc/pihole/dns-servers.conf to escalate privileges through command injection (shell metacharacters after an IP address).
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)1.5% · higher than 74% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
PI
Pi-hole · Pi-hole
before 5.0 · source: NVD
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-12620
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-12620
Exploit
https://0xpanic.github.io/2020/07/21/Pihole.html
Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole
Vendor Advisory
https://pi-hole.net/
More from Pi-hole
7.2
CVE-2020-8816
Pi-Hole AdminLTE Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
8.8
CVE-2026-50130
Pi-hole: Local privilege escalation from `pihole` user to root via `/etc/pihole/logrotate`
8.8
CVE-2026-41489
Pi-hole: Local privilege escalation via config-controlled path in root-executed service hooks
8.8
CVE-2025-34087
Pi-Hole AdminLTE Whitelist (now 'Web Allowlist') Remote Command Execution
8.8
CVE-2024-34361
Pi-hole Blind Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability can lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE)