Local privilege escalation via writable service path
Published Jan 4, 2021 · Updated Aug 4, 2024
Privilege escalation in Pearson VUE VTS Installer 2.3.1911 allows local users to obtain administrative privileges via a Trojan horse application. The VUEApplicationWrapper service uses an unquoted executable path and runs from a directory where Everyone has Full Control, allowing replacement of a service executable or insertion of a matching path component. Exploitation requires local access and a service restart or reboot, after which code executes with the administrative VUEService account.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Pearson VUE VTS Installer 2.3.1911 allows local users to obtain administrative privileges via a Trojan horse application. The VUEApplicationWrapper service uses an unquoted executable path and runs from a directory where Everyone has Full Control, allowing replacement of a service executable or insertion of a matching path component. Exploitation requires local access and a service restart or reboot, after which code executes with the administrative VUEService account.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-36154
- Published
- Jan 4, 2021
- Updated
- Aug 4, 2024
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-732, T1574.011
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 4, 2021CVE 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
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Is a vulnerable build present?
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
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
- Pearson Vue VTS 2.3.1911 Installer - VUEApplicationWrapper Unquoted Service Pathfunctional · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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