CVE-2020-1011 — Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Executive Summary

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows System Assessment Tool improperly handles file operations. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run processes in an elevated context. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by running a specially crafted application on the victim system. The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the way the Windows System Assessment Tool handles file operations.

Overview

7.8

CVSS HIGH

Important

MS Severity

Not Exploited

MS Exploit Status

Less Likely

MS Exploit Likelihood

Category Elevation of Privilege

Released Apr 14 2020

Last Updated Apr 14 2020

Publicly Disclosed No

CISA KEV Not Listed

Known Exploits None Known

EPSS Score 0.01012 — 0.58626 percentile

NVD CVSS 7.8 HIGH — matches MSRC

CVSS Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

ATTACK VECTOR

Local

ATTACK COMPLEXITY

Low

PRIVILEGES REQUIRED

Low

USER INTERACTION

None

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

0.01012

probability of exploitation in the next 30 days

0.58626 percentile - updated 2026-06-21

View on FIRST.org

Affected Products

27 affected products

Product	KB Article	Severity	Impact	Restart Required
Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems	`4550930 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 for x64-based Systems	`4550930 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems	`4550929 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems	`4550929 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems	`4550927 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1709 for ARM64-based Systems	`4550927 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1709 for x64-based Systems	`4550927 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1803 for 32-bit Systems	`4550922 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1803 for ARM64-based Systems	`4550922 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1803 for x64-based Systems	`4550922 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1809 for 32-bit Systems	`4549949 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1809 for ARM64-based Systems	`4549949 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1809 for x64-based Systems	`4549949 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems	`4549951 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems	`4549951 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems	`4549951 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1909 for 32-bit Systems	`4549951 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1909 for ARM64-based Systems	`4549951 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1909 for x64-based Systems	`4549951 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 1 4550964 (Monthly Rollup) 4550965 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4540688 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 4550964 4550965 Windows 7 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 4550964 (Monthly Rollup) 4550965 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4540688 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 4550964 4550965 Windows 8.1 for 32-bit systems 4550961 (Monthly Rollup) 4550970 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4541509 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 4550961 4550970 Windows 8.1 for x64-based systems 4550961 (Monthly Rollup) 4550970 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4541509 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 4550961 4550970 Windows RT 8.1	`4550961 (Monthly Rollup)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server 2016	`4550929 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)	`4550929 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server 2019	`4549949 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)	`4549949 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server, version 1803 (Server Core Installation)	`4550922 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation)	`4549951 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation)	`4549951 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes

Patches

7 patches

Article	Type	Restart
`4550930`	Security Update	Yes
`4550929`	Security Update	Yes
`4550927`	Security Update	Yes
`4550922`	Security Update	Yes
`4549949`	Security Update	Yes
`4549951`	Security Update	Yes
`4550961`	Monthly Rollup	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

Zhiniang Peng (@edwardzpeng) of Qihoo 360 Core security and Fangming Gu (@afang5472)

References

MSRC Advisory MITRE NVD