CVE-2020-0616 — Microsoft Windows Denial of Service Vulnerability

Executive Summary

A denial of service vulnerability exists when Windows improperly handles hard links. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could cause a target system to stop responding. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would have to log on to an affected system and run a specially crafted application. The vulnerability would allow an attacker to overwrite system files. The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting ACLs to system files.

Overview

5.5

CVSS MEDIUM

Important

MS Severity

Not Exploited

MS Exploit Status

Less Likely

MS Exploit Likelihood

Category Denial of Service

Released Jan 14 2020

Last Updated Jan 14 2020

Publicly Disclosed No

CISA KEV Not Listed

Known Exploits None Known

EPSS Score 0.01658 — 0.73571 percentile

CVSS Vector

ATTACK VECTOR

Local

ATTACK COMPLEXITY

Low

PRIVILEGES REQUIRED

Low

USER INTERACTION

None

SCOPE

Unchanged

Temporal Score: 5.0

EPSS Score

0.01658

probability of exploitation in the next 30 days

0.73571 percentile - updated 2026-06-20

View on FIRST.org

Affected Products

13 affected products

Product	KB Article	Severity	Impact	Restart Required
Windows 10 Version 1809 for 32-bit Systems	`4534273 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1809 for ARM64-based Systems	`4534273 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1809 for x64-based Systems	`4534273 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems	`4528760 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems	`4528760 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems	`4528760 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1909 for 32-bit Systems	`4528760 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1909 for ARM64-based Systems	`4528760 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1909 for x64-based Systems	`4528760 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows Server 2019	`4534273 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)	`4534273 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation)	`4528760 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes
Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation)	`4528760 (Security Update)`	Important	Denial of Service	Yes

Patches

2 patches

Article	Type	Restart
`4534273`	Security Update	Yes
`4528760`	Security Update	Yes

Known Exploits

No known exploits have been linked for this CVE yet. When available, exploit references will be sourced from public repositories and may be unverified, incomplete, or non-functional. Always review code carefully before use in any environment.

Acknowledgments

Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative, Zhiniang Peng of Qihoo 360 Core security & Fangming Gu, @edwardzpeng ) of Qihoo 360 Core security & Xuefeng Li, Zhiniang Peng of Qihoo 360 Core security and Jiadong Lu

References

MSRC Advisory MITRE NVD