Vulnerability in Proftpd
CVE-2010-20103
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.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.051 (92.1th percentile), scored .
Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 92nd percentile — 92.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.050 · newest: 0.051 · change: +0.000
Affected products
- Proftpd — versions 1.3.3
- Proftpd Project (Professional FTP Daemon) — versions 1.3.3c
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- web.archive.org/web/20111107212129/http://rsync.proftpd.org/ (vendor-advisory, Release Notes, patch)
- raw.githubusercontent.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/master/modules/exploits/u… (Exploit, Third Party Advisory, exploit)
- www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15662 (Exploit, VDB Entry, exploit)
- www.exploit-db.com/exploits/16921 (Exploit, VDB Entry, exploit)
- advisories.checkpoint.com/defense/advisories/public/2011/cpai-2010-151.html/ (Third Party Advisory, third-party-advisory)
- github.com/proftpd/proftpd (Product, product)
- www.proftpd.org/ (Product, product)
- www.vulncheck.com/advisories/proftpd-backdoor-command-execution (Third Party Advisory, third-party-advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2010-20103?
- CVE-2010-20103 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Proftpd, classified under Hidden Functionality. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2025-08-20.
- How severe is CVE-2010-20103?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2010-20103 known to be exploited?
- 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.