Privilege escalation via unsafe file link resolution
Published Jan 14, 2020 · Updated Aug 12, 2026
Elevation of privilege in Microsoft Update Notification Manager on affected Windows releases allows local users to gain elevated privileges. The manager resolves a file link before access without safely constraining its destination, allowing redirection of a privileged file operation. Exploitation requires prior code execution on the host; Microsoft has not published the affected file or function.
Summary
What happened
Elevation of privilege in Microsoft Update Notification Manager on affected Windows releases allows local users to gain elevated privileges. The manager resolves a file link before access without safely constraining its destination, allowing redirection of a privileged file operation. Exploitation requires prior code execution on the host; Microsoft has not published the affected file or function.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-0638
- Published
- Jan 14, 2020
- Updated
- Aug 12, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows 10 Version 1909
- Classifications
- CWE-59, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 14, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 12, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=unspecified
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Reported exploitation
- CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog listingknown exploited catalog
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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