{"id":"CVE-2010-20103","aliases":["EUVD-2010-5301","GHSA-xm7r-423x-5463"],"status":"published","title":"ProFTPD 1.3.3c Backdoor Command Execution","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.","severity":{"version":"4.0","score":9.3,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"critical","assessor":"cna","from":"cve"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-08","score":0.13757,"percentile":0.96534,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":true,"fix_available":false},"cwes":["CWE-912"],"published":"2025-08-20T15:38:46Z","modified":"2026-07-15T02:16:56Z","exploits":[{"source":"metasploit","id":"exploit/unix/ftp/proftpd_133c_backdoor","title":"ProFTPD 1.3.3c Backdoor Command Execution","type":"exploit","platform":"Linux,Unix","date":"2010-12-02","verified":true,"url":"https://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/unix/ftp/proftpd_133c_backdoor"},{"source":"nuclei","id":"CVE-2010-20103","title":"ProFTPd-1.3.3c - Backdoor Command Execution","type":"detection template","url":"https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/javascript/cves/2010/CVE-2010-20103.yaml"}],"products":[{"vendor":"proftpd","product":"proftpd"},{"vendor":"proftpd project","product":"proftpd (professional ftp daemon)"}],"references":[{"url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20111107212129/http://rsync.proftpd.org/","tags":["vendor-advisory","patch","Release Notes"]},{"url":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/master/modules/exploits/unix/ftp/proftpd_133c_backdoor.rb","tags":["exploit","Exploit","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15662","tags":["exploit","Exploit","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/16921","tags":["exploit","Exploit","VDB Entry"]},{"url":"https://advisories.checkpoint.com/defense/advisories/public/2011/cpai-2010-151.html/","tags":["third-party-advisory","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/proftpd/proftpd","tags":["product","Product"]},{"url":"http://www.proftpd.org/","tags":["product","Product"]},{"url":"https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/proftpd-backdoor-command-execution","tags":["third-party-advisory","Third Party Advisory"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2010-20103"},{"url":"https://advisories.checkpoint.com/defense/advisories/public/2011/cpai-2010-151.html"},{"url":"https://web.archive.org/web/20111107212129/http://rsync.proftpd.org"},{"url":"http://www.proftpd.org"},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-xm7r-423x-5463"}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2010-20103","title":"ProFTPD 1.3.3c Backdoor Command Execution","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.","status":"published","published":"2025-08-20T15:38:46.697Z","modified":"2026-07-15T01:23:11.729Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":9.3,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"critical","assessor":"cna"}],"cwes":["CWE-912"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:33:26.302774Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2010-5301","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.","status":"published","published":"2025-08-20T15:38:46Z","modified":"2026-07-15T01:23:11Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":9.3,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"critical"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T18:19:55.318488Z"}],"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-xm7r-423x-5463","title":"A malicious backdoor was embedded in the official ProFTPD 1.3.3c source tarball distributed...","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.","status":"published","published":"2025-08-20T18:30:21Z","modified":"2025-09-24T18:30:24Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":9.3,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X","level":"critical"},{"version":"3.1","score":9.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"critical"}],"cwes":["CWE-912"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:03:44.74353Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2010-20103","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.","status":"published","published":"2025-08-20T16:15:34.137Z","modified":"2026-07-15T02:16:56.14Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":9.3,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X","level":"critical","assessor":"secondary"},{"version":"3.1","score":9.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"critical","assessor":"primary"}],"cwes":["CWE-912"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:02:04.957683Z"}]}}