Security Resilience

CVE-2020-0787

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 r2

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCRansomware-linked
Published
12 March 2020
Modified
12 August 2026
KEV Added
28 January 2022
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.43 99th percentile
Risk Priority 83 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2020-0787 is a high-severity Link Following (CWE-59) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Server 2008. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Security Account Manager (T1003.002); ranked in the top 1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) when it improperly handles symbolic links. The flaw is tracked as CVE-2020-0787 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8; it is also associated with CWE-59. The affected component is the BITS service present in supported Windows releases.

A local attacker without prior privileges can exploit the issue by supplying a malicious symbolic link that BITS follows during transfer operations. Successful exploitation, which requires user interaction, grants the attacker full control over the affected system, allowing arbitrary code execution with elevated rights.

Microsoft published an advisory detailing patches for the vulnerability, and the flaw appears in CISA's catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities, confirming observed in-the-wild attacks. Public exploit code demonstrating the privilege-escalation path has also been released.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) improperly handles symbolic links, aka 'Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'.

CWE(s)
CWE-59
KEV Date Added
28 January 2022

Related Threats

Threat-Actor AttributionAI

Microsoft Corp. (Salesforce / Slack engineer recruitment claims)
Top Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities | CISA
APT29 (G0016)
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Equation (G0020)
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menuPass (G0045)
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APT41 (G0096)
Top Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities | CISA
AnonOps
Top Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities | CISA
NOTROBIN
Top Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities | CISA
Amazon.com (Walmart logistics engineer recruitment civil claims)
#StopRansomware: RansomHub Ransomware | CISA
Inception (G0100)
#StopRansomware: RansomHub Ransomware | CISA
RansomHub
#StopRansomware: RansomHub Ransomware | CISA
l group
Top Routinely Exploited Vulnerabilities | CISA

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through the Windows Registry where the SAM database is stored.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
attack.mitre.org →
T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings, such as IP and/or MAC addresses, of systems they access or through information discovery of remote systems.
attack.mitre.org →
T1020 Automated Exfiltration Exfiltration
Adversaries may exfiltrate data, such as sensitive documents, through the use of automated processing after being gathered during Collection.
attack.mitre.org →
T1021.003 Distributed Component Object Model Lateral Movement
Adversaries may use [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2020-0683Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507both on KEV
CVE-2019-1130Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507both on KEV
CVE-2019-1315Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607both on KEV
CVE-2019-1069Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507both on KEV
CVE-2020-0638Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1709both on KEV
CVE-2022-21919Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507both on KEV
CVE-2019-1064Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1607both on KEV
CVE-2021-41379Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1507both on KEV
CVE-2019-1129Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1709both on KEV
CVE-2019-1253Same product: Microsoft Windows 10 1709both on KEV

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 10 1507
all versions
microsoft
windows 10 1607
all versions
microsoft
windows 10 1709
all versions
microsoft
windows 10 1803
all versions
microsoft
windows 10 1809
all versions
microsoft
windows 10 1903
all versions
microsoft
windows 10 1909
all versions
microsoft
windows 7
all versions
microsoft
windows 8.1
all versions
microsoft
windows rt 8.1
all versions
+7 more product configuration(s) — see NVD for full list

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly require code to validate paths and avoid unsafe link following.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References