CVE-2020-1159 — Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Executive Summary

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way that the StartTileData.dll handles file creation in protected locations. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could execute code with elevated permissions. To exploit the vulnerability, a locally authenticated attacker could run a specially crafted application. The security update addresses the vulnerability by ensuring the StartTileData.dll properly handles this type of function.

Overview

6.6

CVSS MEDIUM

Important

MS Severity

Not Exploited

MS Exploit Status

Less Likely

MS Exploit Likelihood

Category Elevation of Privilege

Released Sep 8 2020

Last Updated Sep 8 2020

Publicly Disclosed No

CISA KEV Not Listed

Known Exploits None Known

EPSS Score 0.00721 — 0.49075 percentile

NVD CVSS 6.6 MEDIUM — differs from MSRC

CVSS Vector

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

ATTACK VECTOR

Local

ATTACK COMPLEXITY

Low

PRIVILEGES REQUIRED

Low

USER INTERACTION

None

SCOPE

Unchanged

CONFIDENTIALITY

Low

INTEGRITY

Low

AVAILABILITY

Low

EXPLOIT CODE MATURITY

Proof-of-Concept

REMEDIATION LEVEL

Official Fix

REPORT CONFIDENCE

Confirmed

Temporal Score: 4.8

EPSS Score

0.00721

probability of exploitation in the next 30 days

0.49075 percentile - updated 2026-06-21

View on FIRST.org

Affected Products

12 affected products

Product	KB Article	Severity	Impact	Restart Required
Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems	`4574727 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems	`4574727 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems	`4574727 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1909 for 32-bit Systems	`4574727 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1909 for ARM64-based Systems	`4574727 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1909 for x64-based Systems	`4574727 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 2004 for 32-bit Systems	`4571756 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 2004 for ARM64-based Systems	`4571756 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 2004 for x64-based Systems	`4571756 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation)	`4574727 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation)	`4574727 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server, version 2004 (Server Core installation)	`4571756 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes

Patches

2 patches

Article	Type	Restart
`4574727`	Security Update	Yes
`4571756`	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

None

References

MSRC Advisory MITRE NVD