What is CVE-2020-8644?

CVE-2020-8644 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Playsms, classified under Code Injection. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-02-05.

How severe is CVE-2020-8644?

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

Is CVE-2020-8644 known to be exploited?

Yes. CVE-2020-8644 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating it is being actively exploited. 9 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.

RCE in Playsms

CVE-2020-8644

PlaySMS before 1.4.3 does not sanitize inputs from a malicious string.

Vulnerability class: RCE (Remote Code Execution)

Published 2020-02-05 · 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: 0.867 (99.7th percentile), scored 2026-10-15.

High probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — patch promptly. 100th percentile — 99.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.867 · newest: 0.867 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Playsms

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-94 — Code Injection

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on 2021-11-03. 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: 2022-05-03.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

playsms.org/2020/02/05/playsms-1-4-3-has-been-released/ (Vendor Advisory)
forum.playsms.org/t/playsms-1-4-3-has-been-released/2704 (Release Notes, Broken Link, Vendor Advisory)
research.nccgroup.com/2020/02/11/technical-advisory-playsms-pre-authentication-… (Exploit)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/157106/PlaySMS-index.php-Unauthenticated-Template… (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (US Government Resource)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-8644?: CVE-2020-8644 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Playsms, classified under Code Injection. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-02-05.
How severe is CVE-2020-8644?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-8644 known to be exploited?: Yes. CVE-2020-8644 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating it is being actively exploited. 9 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.