What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2020-16927: Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Denial of Service Vulnerability

• Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v2.0)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 5.9% 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 denial of service vulnerability exists in Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) when an attacker connects to the target system using RDP and sends specially crafted requests. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could cause the RDP service on the target system to stop responding.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to run a specially crafted application against a server which provides Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) services.</p> <p>The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how RDP handles connection requests.</p>

Affected products

• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607: 1607, 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909 (+1)
• Microsoft Windows 8.1: all versions
• Microsoft Windows RT 8.1: all versions
• Microsoft Windows Server 2012: r2
• Microsoft Windows Server 2016: 1903, 1909, 2004
• Microsoft Windows Server 2019: all versions
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1507: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10 1607: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10 1709: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10 1803: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10 1909: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 10 2004: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 8.1: from 6.3.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2: from 6.3.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows Server 2016: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows Server 2019: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation): from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation): from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows Server version 2004: from 10.0.0 before publication — fixed in publication

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1507 publication; Microsoft Windows 10 1607 publication; Microsoft Windows 10 1709 publication; Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems publication; Microsoft Windows 10 1803 publication; Microsoft Windows 10 publication; Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems publication; Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems publication; Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems publication; Microsoft Windows 10 1909 publication; Microsoft Windows 10 2004 publication; Microsoft Windows 8.1 publication. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-16927
• https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-16927

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