What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2020-0638: Microsoft Update Notification Manager Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

• Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: yes — in CISA KEV since 2022-05-23
• EPSS: 2.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2020-01-14 · updated 2026-08-12
• Weakness: CWE-59

Description

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way the Update Notification Manager handles files.To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to gain execution on the victim system, aka 'Update Notification Manager Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'.

Affected products

• Microsoft Windows 10 1709: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10 1803: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10 1903: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10 1909: all versions
• Microsoft Windows Server 1803: all versions
• Microsoft Windows Server 1903: all versions
• Microsoft Windows Server 1909: all versions
• Microsoft Windows Server 2019: all versions
• Microsoft Corporation Windows: 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems, 10 Version 1803 for 32-bit Systems, 10 Version 1809 for ARM64-based Systems, 10 Version 1803 for x64-based Systems, 10 Version 1709 for ARM64-based Systems, 10 Version 1709 for x64-based Systems (+3)
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1909 for 32-bit Systems: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1909 for ARM64-based Systems: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1909 for x64-based Systems: all versions
• Microsoft Windows Server: 2019, 2019 (Core installation), version 1803 (Core Installation)
• Microsoft Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation): all versions
• Microsoft Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation): all versions

References

• https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-0638
• https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-0638
• https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-0638

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