Ivanti MobileIron Multiple Products Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (CVE-2020-15505)
Published In CISA KEV since Sources: SingCERT, CVE.org
- Actively exploited
- Source: CSA/SingCERT How we classify
- Public exploit
What is affected, what to do
A remote code execution vulnerability in MobileIron Core & Connector versions 10.3.0.3 and earlier, 10.4.0.0, 10.4.0.1, 10.4.0.2, 10.4.0.3, 10.5.1.0, 10.5.2.0 and 10.6.0.0; and Sentry versions 9.7.2 and earlier, and 9.8.0; and Monitor and Reporting Database (RDB) version 2.0.0.1 and earlier that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.
The vulnerability is being actively exploited; treat it as a priority. Update Mobileiron Core to version 10.3.0.4, Mobileiron Core to version 10.4.0.4, Mobileiron Core to version 10.5.1.1. Immediate actions, mitigation and detection rules are in the runbook below.
- Affected
- Mobileiron Core
lt *..10.3.0.4 - Mobileiron Core
lt 10.4.0.0..10.4.0.4 - Mobileiron Core
lt 10.5.1.0..10.5.1.1 - Mobileiron Core
lt 10.5.2.0..10.5.2.1 - Mobileiron Core
lt 10.6.0.0..10.6.0.1 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
lt *..10.3.0.4 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
lt 10.4.0.0..10.4.0.4 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
lt 10.5.1.0..10.5.1.1 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
lt 10.5.2.0..10.5.2.1 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
lt 10.6.0.0..10.6.0.1 - Mobileiron Monitor And Reporting Database
lt *..2.0.0.2 - Mobileiron Sentry
lt 9.7.0..9.7.3 - Mobileiron Sentry
lt 9.8.0..9.8.1
- Mobileiron Core
- Fixed in
- Mobileiron Core
10.3.0.4 - Mobileiron Core
10.4.0.4 - Mobileiron Core
10.5.1.1 - Mobileiron Core
10.5.2.1 - Mobileiron Core
10.6.0.1 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
10.3.0.4 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
10.4.0.4 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
10.5.1.1 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
10.5.2.1 - Mobileiron Enterprise Connector
10.6.0.1 - Mobileiron Monitor And Reporting Database
2.0.0.2 - Mobileiron Sentry
9.7.3 - Mobileiron Sentry
9.8.1
- Mobileiron Core
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Metrics
9.8
XIEM Effective CVSS
Highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.
Source: NVD, CVSS v3
9.8
CVSS v3
Severity Critical on the scale from 0 to 10.
Source: SingCERT, CVE.org
99.74 %
EPSS score
High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.
Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 99.95
Show all metrics
- Severity
- Critical
Priority (0–325)
The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?
Read in glossary- 228.92 Methodology
Exploit maturity
An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.
Read in glossary- actively exploitedSource: CSA/SingCERT How we classify
XIEM Effective CVSS
XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.
Read in glossary- 9.8 Methodology
CVSS v3
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 9.8
EPSS score
The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.
Read in glossary- 99.74 %
- High — model estimates ≥ 50% chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days.
EPSS percentile
The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.
Read in glossary- 99.95
- Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
KEV status
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- Actively exploited
- Published
In CISA KEV since
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- CISA assessment (SSVC)
- Exploitation: active · automatable · Technical impact: total
- Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 4 February 2025
CWE
CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.
Read in glossary- CWE-706
Response and mitigation
Why act now?
Prioritisation rationale
This vulnerability yields unauthenticated remote code execution over the network — the worst case for an MDM platform that holds certificates, configurations and partial device-admin rights across the managed estate. Exploitation likelihood sits among the highest in the entire KEV catalogue, with documented mass exploitation by both state-aligned and opportunistic actors since 2020. For European NIS2 and KRITIS operators every exposed, unpatched MobileIron instance should be handled as a P1 incident even without the CISA ransomware flag — a compromised MDM server is effectively a supply-chain compromise of the mobile fleet. Priority rises further if the appliance is internet-reachable or authenticates against Active Directory.
Runbook step 1
Immediate response (0-24 h)
- Patch MobileIron Core and Enterprise Connector to one of the fixed releases now: 10.3.0.4, 10.4.0.4, 10.5.1.1, 10.5.2.1 or 10.6.0.1. Apply the vendor-supplied fix builds for Sentry (confirm version in advisory) and move RDB past 2.0.0.1.
- Immediately restrict external exposure of the MobileIron stack: limit the admin portal (TCP 8443), Sentry (TCP 443/9997) and RDB services to management networks or VPN until patching completes.
- Rotate every MobileIron admin credential, API token, LDAP bind account and integrated certificate. If compromise is suspected, also rotate secrets for connected backends (AD, PKI, Exchange/Office 365, Apple MDM push certificates).
- Run forensic triage on the appliance host: look for unexpected child processes under Tomcat/Java (/usr/local/mi/tomcat), new cron jobs, modified JSP/class files inside the webroot, and anomalous outbound traffic. On IoC hits isolate the system and capture a disk image.
- Open a P1 incident ticket with NIS2 reporting flagged: because MobileIron holds device-wide policies and certificates, a compromise is organisation-wide — brief the CISO, DPO and national CSIRT contact early.
Runbook step 2
Mitigation layers
- Network: place a reverse proxy or WAF in front of the MobileIron admin portal. Expose admin paths (/mifs/admin, /mifs/services, /mifs/user) only to an IP allowlist; keep public enrollment endpoints minimal.
- WAF/IPS: enable signatures targeting Hessian / Java deserialisation payloads (Content-Type application/x-hessian, magic bytes 0x63 0x01 0x00 at request body start). Load vendor and community Snort/Suricata rules for CVE-2020-15505 and set them to drop.
- Host hardening: keep appliance OS patched, SELinux/AppArmor enforcing, Tomcat user without a shell and without write access to the webroot. Restrict appliance egress to defined destinations (Apple/Google push, patch servers) to defeat reverse-shell callbacks.
- IAM: require MFA-protected jump hosts for the MobileIron admin console. Scope service accounts in integrated systems (AD, Exchange) to least privilege — never grant domain admin to an MDM integration.
- Configuration: disable unused modules (RDB, reporting, third-party API connectors). Elevate Tomcat access and Catalina logs to INFO/DEBUG and forward them to the SIEM.
- Backup/recovery: snapshot the appliance and its database before patching and store the snapshot off the production network — it contains certificates and secrets.
Runbook step 3
Detection rules
- Zeek/Suricata: alert on HTTP POSTs to /mifs/services/* or /mifs/user/* with Content-Type application/x-hessian or anomalously large bodies. Sigma shape:
selection: cs-method=POST, cs-uri-stem contains "/mifs/", cs-content-type contains "hessian". - Appliance process ancestry (auditd/EDR): java or Tomcat spawning /bin/sh, bash, nc, curl, wget, python or perl. KQL sketch:
DeviceProcessEvents | where InitiatingProcessFileName in ("java","catalina.sh") and FileName in ("sh","bash","nc","curl","wget","python","perl"). - File integrity monitoring: new or modified .jsp, .class or .war files under /usr/local/mi/tomcat/webapps/ or /tmp outside scheduled patch windows — a strong webshell indicator.
- Network telemetry: outbound connections from the MobileIron appliance to non-whitelisted destinations, especially TCP 4444, 1337, 8080, or DNS-tunnelling patterns (high-entropy subdomains, unusually heavy TXT query volumes).
- Authentication logs: failed or suddenly successful admin logins outside maintenance windows, creation of new MDM admin accounts, RBAC role changes. Correlate with SIEM alerts on bulk enroll/unenroll events across managed devices.
- Zeek/Suricata: alert on HTTP POSTs to /mifs/services/* or /mifs/user/* with Content-Type application/x-hessian or anomalously large bodies. Sigma shape:
Detection rules
No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.
Classification under NIS2 and CRA
Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.
NIS2
NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.
Read in glossary- Actively exploited: treat the vulnerability as a priority in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2. If it is exploited in your environment, check the reporting obligation under Art. 23 (early warning within 24 hours).
CRA
The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.
Read in glossary- Since 11.09.2026, manufacturers of affected products with digital elements must report actively exploited vulnerabilities under Art. 14 CRA, with an early warning within 24 hours via ENISA's single reporting platform.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.
Read in glossary- Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.
Description
A remote code execution vulnerability in MobileIron Core & Connector versions 10.3.0.3 and earlier, 10.4.0.0, 10.4.0.1, 10.4.0.2, 10.4.0.3, 10.5.1.0, 10.5.2.0 and 10.6.0.0; and Sentry versions 9.7.2 and earlier, and 9.8.0; and Monitor and Reporting Database (RDB) version 2.0.0.1 and earlier that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.
Source: CSA/SingCERT, NVD (NIST), cvelistv5, CISA KEV Catalog
Affected products
The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.
| Affected versions | Fixed in | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| mobileiron | core |
|
|
| mobileiron | enterprise_connector |
|
|
| mobileiron | monitor_and_reporting_database |
|
|
| mobileiron | sentry |
|
|
Vendors and products
Weakness classes (CWE)
CWE-706Use of Incorrectly-Resolved Name or Reference
Class
The product uses a name or reference to access a resource, but the name/reference resolves to a resource that is outside of the intended control sphere.
Entry at MITRE CWE-706
Public exploit references
Publicly reported proof-of-concepts, exploit modules and detection templates for this vulnerability. NEOSEC links to the original sources only and does not provide any exploit code.
| CISA KEV Catalog | CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)cisa.gov | actively exploited | |
| CSA/SingCERT | Active Exploitation of MobileIron's Mobile Device Management (MDM) (opens in a new tab)CSA/SingCERT | actively exploited | |
| Packet Storm | MobileIron MDM Hessian Based Java Deserialization Remote Code Execution (opens in a new tab)packetstormsecurity.com | PoC (publicly reported)reported, not verified | — |
References & sources
- mobileiron.comen/blog/mobileiron-security-updates-availablex_refsource_MISC, Vendor advisory
- perchsecurity.comperch-news/cve-spotlight-mobileiron-rce-cve-2020-15505x_refsource_MISC, Exploit, Third-party advisory
- packetstormsecurity.comfiles/161097/MobileIron-MDM-Hessian-Based-Java-Deserialization-…x_refsource_MISC, Exploit, Third-party advisory, Vulnerability database
- cwe.mitre.orgdata/definitions/41.htmlx_refsource_MISC, Third-party advisory
- cisa.govknown-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-15505government-resource, US government resource
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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2020-15505"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2020-15505.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2020-15505 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>