CVE-2020-36851
published 2025-09-25CVE-2020-36851: Rob--W cors-anywhere instances configured as an open proxy allow unauthenticated external users to induce the server to make HTTP requests to arbitrary targets…
PriorityP269critical9.5CVSS 4.0
AVNACLATPPRNUINVCHVIHVANSCHSIHSAHEXCRXIRXARXMAVXMACXMATXMPRXMUIXMVCXMVIXMVAXMSCXMSIXMSAXSXAUXRXVXREXUX
EPSS
1.00%
58.6th percentile
Rob--W cors-anywhere instances configured as an open proxy allow unauthenticated external users to induce the server to make HTTP requests to arbitrary targets (SSRF). Because the proxy forwards requests and headers, an attacker can reach internal-only endpoints and link-local metadata services, retrieve instance role credentials or other sensitive metadata, and interact with internal APIs and services that are not intended to be internet-facing. The vulnerability is exploitable by sending crafted requests to the proxy with the target resource encoded in the URL; many cors-anywhere deployments forward arbitrary methods and headers (including PUT), which can permit exploitation of IMDSv2 workflows as well as access to internal management APIs. Successful exploitation can result in theft of cloud credentials, unauthorized access to internal services, remote code execution or privilege escalation (depending on reachable backends), data exfiltration, and full compromise of cloud resources. Mitigation includes: restricting the proxy to trusted origins or authentication, whitelisting allowed target hosts, preventing access to link-local and internal IP ranges, removing support for unsafe HTTP methods/headers, enabling cloud provider mitigations, and deploying network-level protections.
Affected
2 ranges
| Vendor | Product | Version range | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| rob_w | cors-anywhere_rob_w_cors-anywhere | <= 0.4.4 | — |
| rob_w | cors-anywhere_rob_w_cors-anywhere | 0 – 0.4.4 | — |
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VulDB
Rob--W cors-anywhere up to 0.4.4 Requests cross-domain policy (Issue 152 / EUVD-2020-30801)
vuldb·2026-05-27·CVSS 9.5
CVE-2020-36851 [CRITICAL] Rob--W cors-anywhere up to 0.4.4 Requests cross-domain policy (Issue 152 / EUVD-2020-30801)
A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Rob--W cors-anywhere up to 0.4.4. This affects an unknown function of the component Requests Handler. This manipulation causes permissive cross-domain policy with untrusted domains.
This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2020-36851. The attack can be initiated remotely. There is not any exploit available.
OSV
cors-anywhere vulnerable to server-side request forgery
osv·2025-09-25
CVE-2020-36851 [CRITICAL] cors-anywhere vulnerable to server-side request forgery
cors-anywhere vulnerable to server-side request forgery
Rob -- W / cors-anywhere instances configured as an open proxy allow unauthenticated external users to induce the server to make HTTP requests to arbitrary targets (SSRF). Because the proxy forwards requests and headers, an attacker can reach internal-only endpoints and link-local metadata services, retrieve instance role credentials or other sensitive metadata, and interact with internal APIs and services that are not intended to be internet-facing. The vulnerability is exploitable by sending crafted requests to the proxy with the target resource encoded in the URL; many cors-anywhere deployments forward arbitrary methods and headers (including PUT), which can permit exploitation of IMDSv2 workflows as well as access to internal man
GHSA
cors-anywhere vulnerable to server-side request forgery
ghsa·2025-09-25
CVE-2020-36851 [CRITICAL] CWE-918 cors-anywhere vulnerable to server-side request forgery
cors-anywhere vulnerable to server-side request forgery
Rob -- W / cors-anywhere instances configured as an open proxy allow unauthenticated external users to induce the server to make HTTP requests to arbitrary targets (SSRF). Because the proxy forwards requests and headers, an attacker can reach internal-only endpoints and link-local metadata services, retrieve instance role credentials or other sensitive metadata, and interact with internal APIs and services that are not intended to be internet-facing. The vulnerability is exploitable by sending crafted requests to the proxy with the target resource encoded in the URL; many cors-anywhere deployments forward arbitrary methods and headers (including PUT), which can permit exploitation of IMDSv2 workflows as well as access to internal man
No detection rules found.
No public exploits indexed.
No writeups or analysis indexed.
https://github.com/Rob--W/cors-anywhere/issues/152https://github.com/Rob--W/cors-anywhere/issues/521https://github.com/Rob--W/cors-anywhere/issues/78https://github.com/SocketDev/security-research/security/advisories/GHSA-9wmg-93pw-fc3ghttps://www.certik.com/resources/blog/cors-anywhere-dangers-of-misconfigured-third-party-softwarehttps://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/rob-w-cors-anywhere-misconfigured-cors-proxy-allows-ssrf
2025-09-25
Published