Threats / PlaySMS / CVE-2020-8644
CVE-2020-8644
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
PlaySMS vulnerability
PlaySMS contains a server-side template injection vulnerability enabling remote code execution. The flaw has been exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
Server-side template injection in PlaySMS allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected servers. Active exploitation in the wild and high EPSS score indicate immediate risk to deployed instances.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-11-034EPSS 0.86689 (verify live)5Exploit Public PoC6CVSS 9.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Public proof-of-concept exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
1 independent public report of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.86689 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 9.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: PlaySMS, PlaySMS. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-94 Code Injection — weakness family: Injection.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 637 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module, nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I identify that PlaySMS processes user-supplied input through a template engine without proper sanitization.
Business
Attackers gain a direct pathway to inject malicious code into server-side template processing logic.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I craft a malicious template payload and submit it through a vulnerable input vector in the application.
Business
The template engine interprets and executes the injected code with server privileges.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I achieve remote code execution on the target server and establish persistent access or exfiltrate data.
Business
Complete compromise of the PlaySMS instance and potential lateral movement within the network infrastructure.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05