What is CVE-2018-16261?

CVE-2018-16261 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Pulsesecure Pulse Secure Desktop Client, classified under Improper Certificate Validation. CVSS score: 6.8/10. Published 2018-09-06.

How severe is CVE-2018-16261?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.8 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Pulsesecure Pulse Secure Desktop Client

CVE-2018-16261

In Pulse Secure Pulse Desktop Client 5.3RX before 5.3R5 and 9.0R1, there is a Privilege Escalation Vulnerability with Dynamic Certificate Trust.

Vulnerability class: Improper Certificate Validation

Published 2018-09-06 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.8 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (9.0th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 9th percentile — 9.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Pulsesecure Pulse Secure Desktop Client — versions 5.3r1, 5.3r1.1, 5.3r2

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-295 — Improper Certificate Validation

References

kb.pulsesecure.net/articles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA43877 (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-16261?: CVE-2018-16261 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Pulsesecure Pulse Secure Desktop Client, classified under Improper Certificate Validation. CVSS score: 6.8/10. Published 2018-09-06.
How severe is CVE-2018-16261?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.8 out of 10.