# CVE-2020-36890: Kentico Xperience administrator access control bypass

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2020-36890-kentico-xperience-administrator-access-control-bypass  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2025-12-18. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2020-36890 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.2 · Published 2025-12-18

Kentico Xperience is a content management and digital experience platform used by enterprises to build and manage web properties. An access control vulnerability allows authenticated administrators to modify privileges of global administrator accounts through improper authorization checks, potentially enabling account compromise and unauthorized control of security-sensitive features.

Technologies: [Kentico Xperience](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/xperience). Vendors: [Kentico](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/kentico).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2020-36890 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2020-36890 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2020-36890?** High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.2, published 18 December 2025.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Kentico Xperience 12.0.60 and earlier.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2020-36890?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2020-36890 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a web application.

**Am I affected by CVE-2020-36890?** Check whether you run Kentico Xperience at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

This vulnerability involves missing authorization checks (CWE-862) in Kentico Xperience that allow authenticated administrators to bypass access controls via specially crafted requests. The root cause is insufficient object-level authorization validation when modifying user privilege levels. An attacker with administrator access can escalate or downgrade other administrators' privileges, including global administrators, to compromise accounts and invalidate security macros. The attack requires network access and valid administrative credentials; no user interaction is necessary. Hotfixes are available for affected versions through the Kentico DevNet portal.

## Affected products

- Kentico Xperience 12.0.60 and earlier

## Timeline

- 2025-12-18: disclosed

## References

- [https://devnet.kentico.com/download/hotfixes](https://devnet.kentico.com/download/hotfixes)
- [https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/kentico-xperience-administrator-access-control-bypass](https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/kentico-xperience-administrator-access-control-bypass)

## Related threats

- [Kentico Xperience path traversal and RCE in Staging Sync Server](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-2749-kentico-xperience-path-traversal-and-rce-in-staging-sync-server)
- [Kentico Xperience 13 is vulnerable to a stored cross-site scripting attack via a form component, allowing an attacker…](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-5591-kentico-xperience-13-is-vulnerable-to-a-stored-cross-site)
- [A cookie security configuration vulnerability in Kentico Xperience allows attackers to bypass SSL requirements when…](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2024-58317-a-cookie-security-configuration-vulnerability-in-kentico)
- [An information disclosure vulnerability in Kentico Xperience allows attackers to view sensitive stack trace details…](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2022-50686-an-information-disclosure-vulnerability-in-kentico-xperience)
- [A stored cross-site scripting vulnerability in Kentico Xperience allows authenticated users to inject malicious…](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2022-50685-a-stored-cross-site-scripting-vulnerability-in-kentico-xperience)