CVE-2010-20103
9.8
CRITICAL · CVSS 3.1 · EPSS 5.1% (pctl 92)
In your normal cycle
Critical by CVSS (9.8), but no sign of active exploitation.
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.
Scoring
| CVSS | 9.8 (CRITICAL, v3.1) |
|---|---|
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| EPSS | 5.09% — more likely to be exploited than 92% of all CVEs |
| Weakness | CWE-912 |
| On CISA KEV | no |
| Public exploit | none known |
| Published | 2025-08-20 |
| Last modified | 2026-07-15 |
Affected (1)
| Vendor | Product |
|---|---|
| proftpd | proftpd |
References
- http://www.proftpd.org/
- https://advisories.checkpoint.com/defense/advisories/public/2011/cpai-2010-151.html/
- https://github.com/proftpd/proftpd
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/master/modules/exploits/unix/ftp/proftpd_133c_backdoor.rb
- https://web.archive.org/web/20111107212129/http://rsync.proftpd.org/
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15662
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/16921
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/proftpd-backdoor-command-execution
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/master/modules/exploits/unix/ftp/proftpd_133c_backdoor.rb
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15662
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/16921
→ the Explorer · watch your stack · NVD