Microsoft Windows
CVE-2020-0787 — Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Executive Summary
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) improperly handles symbolic links. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could overwrite a targeted file leading to an elevated status. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and take control of an affected system. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Windows BITS handles symbolic links.
Overview
7.8
CVSS HIGH
Important
MS Severity
Not Exploited
MS Exploit Status
Less Likely
MS Exploit Likelihood
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C
ATTACK VECTOR
Local
ATTACK COMPLEXITY
Low
PRIVILEGES REQUIRED
None
USER INTERACTION
Required
SCOPE
Unchanged
CONFIDENTIALITY
High
INTEGRITY
High
AVAILABILITY
High
EXPLOIT CODE MATURITY
Proof-of-Concept
REMEDIATION LEVEL
Official Fix
REPORT CONFIDENCE
Confirmed
Temporal Score: 7.0
EPSS Score
0.42524
probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
0.98586 percentile - updated 2026-08-14
View on FIRST.org
Affected Products
27 affected products
| Product | KB Article | Severity | Impact | Restart Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems | 4540693 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 for x64-based Systems | 4540693 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems | 4540670 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems | 4540670 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems | 4540681 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1709 for ARM64-based Systems | 4540681 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1709 for x64-based Systems | 4540681 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1803 for 32-bit Systems | 4540689 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1803 for ARM64-based Systems | 4540689 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1803 for x64-based Systems | 4540689 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1809 for 32-bit Systems | 4538461 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1809 for ARM64-based Systems | 4538461 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1809 for x64-based Systems | 4538461 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems | 4540673 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems | 4540673 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems | 4540673 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1909 for 32-bit Systems | 4540673 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1909 for ARM64-based Systems | 4540673 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 10 Version 1909 for x64-based Systems | 4540673 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 1 4540688 (Monthly Rollup) 4541500 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537820 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4540688 4541500 Windows 7 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 4540688 (Monthly Rollup) 4541500 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537820 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4540688 4541500 Windows 8.1 for 32-bit systems 4541509 (Monthly Rollup) 4541505 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537821 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541509 4541505 Windows 8.1 for x64-based systems 4541509 (Monthly Rollup) 4541505 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537821 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541509 4541505 Windows RT 8.1 | 4541509 (Monthly Rollup) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 4541506 (Monthly Rollup) 4541504 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537810 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541506 4541504 Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation) 4541506 (Monthly Rollup) 4541504 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537810 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541506 4541504 Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 4541506 (Monthly Rollup) 4541504 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537810 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541506 4541504 Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation) 4541506 (Monthly Rollup) 4541504 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537810 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541506 4541504 Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 4540688 (Monthly Rollup) 4541500 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537820 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4540688 4541500 Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation) 4540688 (Monthly Rollup) 4541500 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537820 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4540688 4541500 Windows Server 2012 4541510 (Monthly Rollup) 4540694 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537814 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541510 4540694 Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation) 4541510 (Monthly Rollup) 4540694 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537814 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541510 4540694 Windows Server 2012 R2 4541509 (Monthly Rollup) 4541505 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537821 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541509 4541505 Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation) 4541509 (Monthly Rollup) 4541505 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4537821 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.0 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C Yes 4541509 4541505 Windows Server 2016 | 4540670 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation) | 4540670 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows Server 2019 | 4538461 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation) | 4538461 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows Server, version 1803 (Server Core Installation) | 4540689 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation) | 4540673 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
| Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation) | 4540673 (Security Update) |
Important | Elevation of Privilege | Yes |
Patches
7 patches
| Article | Type | Restart |
|---|---|---|
4540693 |
Security Update | Yes |
4540670 |
Security Update | Yes |
4540681 |
Security Update | Yes |
4540689 |
Security Update | Yes |
4538461 |
Security Update | Yes |
4540673 |
Security Update | Yes |
4541509 |
Monthly Rollup | Yes |
Exploits & PoC
4 public PoCsUnverified third-party code
Public proof-of-concept repositories aggregated from PoC-in-GitHub. They are not reviewed and may be incomplete, non-functional, or malicious — inspect the code before running anything.
| Repository | Stars | Published | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| cbwang505/CVE-2020-0787-EXP-ALL-WINDOWS-VERSION | 721 | 2020-06-16 | Support ALL Windows Version |
| yanghaoi/CVE-2020-0787 | 34 | 2021-11-16 | CVE-2020-0787的简单回显 |
| MasterSploit/CVE-2020-0787 | 0 | 2020-12-11 | |
| MasterSploit/CVE-2020-0787-BitsArbitraryFileMove-master | 0 | 2020-12-11 |
Detection Rules
No public Sigma or Nuclei detection rule has been mapped to this CVE yet. Coverage is concentrated on exploited / high-profile vulnerabilities; check SigmaHQ for updates.
Acknowledgments
Clément Labro ( @itm4n
Jarvis_1oop of Pinduoduo Security Research Lab
References
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