What is CVE-2020-25223?

CVE-2020-25223 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Sophos Unified Threat Management, classified under OS Command Injection. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-09-25.

How severe is CVE-2020-25223?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2020-25223 known to be exploited?

Yes. CVE-2020-25223 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-25), indicating it is being actively exploited. 15 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.

RCE in Sophos Unified Threat Management

CVE-2020-25223

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the WebAdmin of Sophos SG UTM before v9.705 MR5, v9.607 MR7, and v9.511 MR11

Vulnerability class: Command Injection (OS Command Injection)

Published 2020-09-25 · last modified 2026-06-17.

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: 0.968 (99.9th percentile), scored 2026-10-17.

Very high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — among the top 0.1% most-likely-to-be-exploited CVEs. 100th percentile — 99.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.968 · newest: 0.968 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Sophos Unified Threat Management — versions 9.511, 9.607, 9.705

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-78 — OS Command Injection

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on 2022-03-25. CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.

BOD 22-01 due date: 2022-04-15.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/78.html (Technical Description)
community.sophos.com/b/security-blog (Not Applicable, Vendor Advisory)
community.sophos.com/b/security-blog/posts/advisory-resolved-rce-in-sg-utm-weba… (Vendor Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/164697/Sophos-UTM-WebAdmin-SID-Command-Injection… (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
www.secpod.com/blog/remote-code-execution-in-sophos-utm/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (US Government Resource)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-25223?: CVE-2020-25223 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Sophos Unified Threat Management, classified under OS Command Injection. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-09-25.
How severe is CVE-2020-25223?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-25223 known to be exploited?: Yes. CVE-2020-25223 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-25), indicating it is being actively exploited. 15 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.