What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2020-16886: PowerShellGet Module WDAC Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

• Severity: high (CVSS 7.2 v2.0)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2020-10-16 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

<p>A security feature bypass vulnerability exists in the PowerShellGet V2 module. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could bypass WDAC (Windows Defender Application Control) policy and execute arbitrary code on a policy locked-down machine.</p> <p>An attacker must have administrator privileges to create a configuration that includes installing PowerShellGet V2 module onto a machine from the PowerShell Gallery. The WDAC policy must be configured to allow the module to run. After this is done, PowerShell script can be injected and run fully trusted, allowing the attacker arbitrary code execution on the machine.</p> <p>The update addresses the vulnerability by changing how URLs are processed.</p>

Affected products

• Microsoft PowerShellGet 2.2.5: 2.2.5
• Microsoft PowerShellGet 2.2.5: from 1.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Microsoft PowerShellGet 2.2.5 publication. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-16886
• https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-16886

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