CVE-2020-5205Network attack vector

Account hijacking via unrenewed persistent session identifier

Published Jan 9, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Session fixation in Pow before 1.0.16 allows remote authenticated users to hijack accounts through a fixed server-side session identifier. Pow.Plug.Session creates or rolls a Pow session without calling Plug.Conn.configure_session to renew the underlying Plug session identifier. Exploitation requires victim interaction and a persistent Plug.Session store such as Redis or a database; the default cookie store is unaffected.

CVSS severity6.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.77%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Session fixation in Pow before 1.0.16 allows remote authenticated users to hijack accounts through a fixed server-side session identifier. Pow.Plug.Session creates or rolls a Pow session without calling Plug.Conn.configure_session to renew the underlying Plug session identifier. Exploitation requires victim interaction and a persistent Plug.Session store such as Redis or a database; the default cookie store is unaffected.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-5205
Published
Jan 9, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Pow Auth
Product
Pow
Classifications
CWE-384, T1550.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 9, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=< 1.0.16

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Pow Auth · Powversion=< 1.0.16

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N
6.5GitHub, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N
5.4NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-384Session Fixation
T1550.004Use Alternate Authentication Material: Web Session Cookie

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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