{"id":"CVE-2020-36160","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2020-36160","generatedAt":"2026-10-27T22:33:39.555Z","title":"A low privileged user can create a C:\\usr\\local\\ssl\\openssl.cnf configuration file to load a malicious OpenSSL engine, resulting in arbitrary code execution as SYSTEM when the service starts.","description":"An issue was discovered in Veritas System Recovery before 21.2. On start-up, it loads the OpenSSL library from \\usr\\local\\ssl. This library attempts to load the from \\usr\\local\\ssl\\openssl.cnf configuration file, which does not exist. By default, on Windows systems, users can create directories under C:\\. A low privileged user can create a C:\\usr\\local\\ssl\\openssl.cnf configuration file to load a malicious OpenSSL engine, resulting in arbitrary code execution as SYSTEM when the service starts. This gives the attacker administrator access on the system, allowing the attacker (by default) to access all data and installed applications, etc. If the system is also an Active Directory domain controller, then this can affect the entire domain.","published":"2021-01-06T01:15:13.000Z","lastModified":"2026-06-17T03:14:52.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"cve@mitre.org","cvss":{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"severity":"HIGH","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H"},"cwe":[],"affected":["veritas/system recovery"],"epss":{"score":0.0045,"percentile":0.38823,"date":"2026-10-26","history":[]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":0,"verified":false,"firstPublished":null,"source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[]},"verdict":{"level":"high","text":"High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.45%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit."},"changes":[],"references":[{"url":"https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/security/VTS20-017","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US/security/VTS20-017","tags":["Vendor Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36160","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}