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CVE-2010-20103
ProFTPD 1.3.3c Backdoor Command Execution
Critical9.3EPSS 13.8%
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- VulnCheck
Description
A malicious backdoor was embedded in the official ProFTPD 1.3.3c source tarball distributed between November 28 and December 2, 2010. The backdoor implements a hidden FTP command trigger that, when invoked, causes the server to execute arbitrary shell commands with root privileges. This allows remote, unauthenticated attackers to run any OS command on the FTP server host.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| VulnCheckCNA (assigner) | 4.0 | Critical9.3 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 4.0 | Critical9.3 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 13.8% · top 3.5% of all CVEs (5 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
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The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.3.
Weakness
Affected products
ProFTPD Project · ProFTPD (Professional FTP Daemon)
- affected 1.3.3c
References (8)
- https://web.archive.org/web/20111107212129/http://rsync.proftpd.org/ (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisorypatch
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/master/modules/exploits/unix/ftp/proftpd_133c_backdoor.rb (opens in a new tab)exploit
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15662 (opens in a new tab)exploit
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/16921 (opens in a new tab)exploit
- https://advisories.checkpoint.com/defense/advisories/public/2011/cpai-2010-151.html/ (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisory
- https://github.com/proftpd/proftpd (opens in a new tab)product
- http://www.proftpd.org/ (opens in a new tab)product
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/proftpd-backdoor-command-execution (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisory
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2010-20103)Record last updated .