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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2020-16940 json

Windows - User Profile Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

published 6y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2020-8898

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.6%
EPSS 1.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 75%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows User Profile Service (ProfSvc) improperly handles junction points. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could delete files and folders in an elevated context.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and delete files or folders of their choosing.</p> <p>The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the Windows User Profile Service handles junction points.</p>

Patch / fix

Is CVE-2020-16940 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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Exploit prediction

1.55% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 75% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.9 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Affected products

  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1803
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1809
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1909
  • Microsoft Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation)
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1709
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Microsoft Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation)
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 2004
  • Microsoft Windows Server version 2004
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1507
  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2016
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)
  • Microsoft Windows 7
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1
  • Microsoft Windows 8.1
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.