Local privilege escalation via predictable WER temp file
Published Feb 11, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024
File-operation race in Microsoft Windows Error Reporting allows local users to gain SYSTEM privileges through a predictable temporary file. The WER service creates a name with GetTempFileNameW in a user-writable Temp directory, closes its handle, and later writes to and deletes that path. A low-privilege authenticated user must win the race with filesystem links; successful exploitation redirects SYSTEM-level file operations and enables arbitrary file deletion leading to elevation.
Summary
What happened
File-operation race in Microsoft Windows Error Reporting allows local users to gain SYSTEM privileges through a predictable temporary file. The WER service creates a name with GetTempFileNameW in a user-writable Temp directory, closes its handle, and later writes to and deletes that path. A low-privilege authenticated user must win the race with filesystem links; successful exploitation redirects SYSTEM-level file operations and enables arbitrary file deletion leading to elevation.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-0753
- Published
- Feb 11, 2020
- Updated
- Aug 4, 2024
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows 10 Version 1909
- Classifications
- T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 11, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=unspecified
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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
- WERReport-CVE-2020-0753 proof of conceptfunctional · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo