Pi Hole
CVE-2020-14162
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization OS command sanitization, avoid shell exec
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 1 tactic: Execution The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.8 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A local attacker with access to the system could execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAI
An issue was discovered in Pi-Hole through 5.0. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Avoid passing user input to shell commands. Use language-specific APIs instead of shell execution. Apply strict input validation with allowlists.
Affects your stack
Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as OS Command Injection (CWE-78), which allows attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host. An issue was discovered in Pi-Hole through 5.0. The local www-data user has sudo privileges to execute the pihole core script as root without a password, which could allow an attacker to obtain root access via shell metacharacters to this script's setdns command. Affected products include: Pi-Hole. Version information: through 5.0..
Know when Pi Hole gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
An issue was discovered in Pi-Hole through 5.0. The local www-data user has sudo privileges to execute the pihole core script as root without a password, which could allow an attacker to obtain root access via shell metacharacters to this script's setdns command.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
OS command injection occurs when an application passes unsanitized user input directly into system shell commands.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
Pi-hole versions up to 3.3 contain an authenticated command injection via the domain allowlist functionality. When addin
The Gravity updater in Pi-hole through 4.4 allows an authenticated adversary to upload arbitrary files. Rated high sever
Pi-hole is a Linux network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.
Pi-hole Web v4.3.2 (aka AdminLTE) allows Remote Code Execution by privileged dashboard users via a crafted DHCP static l
Pi-hole is a DNS sinkhole that protects devices from unwanted content without installing any client-side software. Rated
Pi-hole®'s Web interface (based off of AdminLTE) provides a central location to manage your Pi-hole. Rated high severity
Pi-hole's Web interface provides a central location to manage a Pi-hole instance and review performance statistics. Rate
Pi-hole is a Linux network-level advertisement and Internet tracker blocking application. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8)
HTTP response splitting in Pi-hole Admin Interface before 6.3 lets unauthenticated remote attackers inject CRLF sequence
Pi-hole 4.4 allows a user able to write to /etc/pihole/dns-servers.conf to escalate privileges through command injection
Pi-hole before 6 allows unauthenticated admin/api.php?setTempUnit= calls to change the temperature units of the web dash
adminlte is vulnerable to Sensitive Cookie Without 'HttpOnly' Flag. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability i
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB