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UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2020-0683

Microsoft Windows Installer Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

KEVEXPLOITHIGH 7.8EPSS 7.61%

Does this matter?

Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 3 May 2022). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.

Description

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the Windows Installer when MSI packages process symbolic links, aka 'Windows Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2020-0686.

CVSS 3.1
7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
7.61% probability · 95th percentile
Public exploits
1 in Exploit-DB · first 17 February 2020
CISA KEV
Listed 3 November 2021 · due 3 May 2022
Weakness
CWE-59
Affected
microsoft/windows 10 1507 · microsoft/windows 10 1607 · microsoft/windows 10 1709 · microsoft/windows 10 1803 · microsoft/windows 10 1809 · microsoft/windows 10 1903 · microsoft/windows 10 1909 · microsoft/windows 7 · microsoft/windows 8.1 · microsoft/windows rt 8.1 · microsoft/windows server 1803 · microsoft/windows server 1903 · microsoft/windows server 1909 · microsoft/windows server 2008 · microsoft/windows server 2012 · microsoft/windows server 2016 · microsoft/windows server 2019
Source
secure@microsoft.com
EPSS trend
0%5%10%26 October 2026: 7.61%26 October 202626 October 2026

EPSS 7.6% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.

CISA notes

Apply updates per vendor instructions. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-0683

Public exploits (1)

Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.

EDB-IDTitleTypePublishedVerified
EDB-48079source ↗MSI Packages Symbolic Links Processing - Windows 10 Privilege Escalationwindows · nu11secur1tylocal17 February 2020no

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.