CVE-2020-0638
Published: 14 January 2020
Summary
CVE-2020-0638 is a high-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 1809. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 18.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2020-0638 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Update Notification Manager component, arising from improper handling of files. The flaw is tracked under CWE-59 and carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8 reflecting local attack vector, low attack complexity, and low privileges required.
An attacker who has already obtained code execution on a target system can leverage the vulnerability to elevate privileges, resulting in full control over confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected system.
Microsoft has published an advisory detailing the issue, and the vulnerability appears in CISA's catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities, confirming observed in-the-wild exploitation.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2020-2132
Vulnerability details
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way the Update Notification Manager handles files.To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to gain execution on the victim system, aka 'Update Notification Manager Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 23 May 2022
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Least privilege directly limits the ability of an attacker with initial code execution to escalate via the flawed Update Notification Manager file handling.
Access enforcement would block unauthorized file operations that the vulnerability uses to elevate privileges after initial execution.
Flaw remediation requires applying the vendor patch that eliminates the improper file-handling logic in the Update Notification Manager.