CVE-2020-12614

Local Administrator escalation via self-signed certificate trust

Published Dec 12, 2023 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Privilege escalation in BeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows before 5.7 SR1 allows local users to gain Administrator rights. Publisher matching consults the user's certificate store, so importing a self-signed certificate bearing an allowed publisher satisfies an Add Admin rule. The affected policy must protect an Add Admin token with Publisher criteria; a standard user can then launch a matched application as an administrator.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.14%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in BeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows before 5.7 SR1 allows local users to gain Administrator rights. Publisher matching consults the user's certificate store, so importing a self-signed certificate bearing an allowed publisher satisfies an Add Admin rule. The affected policy must protect an Add Admin token with Publisher criteria; a standard user can then launch a matched application as an administrator.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-12614
Published
Dec 12, 2023
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
BeyondTrust
Product
Endpoint Privilege Management for Windows
Classifications
CWE-295, T1548
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 12, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record 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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  1. Affected versionversion=0 <=5.6

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

BeyondTrust · Endpoint Privilege Management for Windowsversion=0 <=5.6

Published CVSS scores

7.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
8.4CISA-ADPCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-295Improper Certificate Validation
T1548Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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