CVE-2020-24676 in Symphony Plus Operations
Summary
by MITRE • 12/23/2020
In Symphony Plus Operations and Symphony Plus Historian, some services can be vulnerable to privilege escalation attacks. An unprivileged (but authenticated) user could execute arbitrary code and result in privilege escalation, depending on the user that the service runs as.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/22/2026
This vulnerability exists within Symphony Plus Operations and Symphony Plus Historian software platforms where certain services operate with elevated privileges. The flaw allows authenticated users who do not possess administrative rights to potentially execute arbitrary code and achieve privilege escalation. The security risk is directly tied to how services are configured and the user context in which they operate, creating a pathway for malicious actors to elevate their access level within the system.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper privilege management within the service architecture. When services run under accounts with higher privileges than necessary, they create attack surfaces where authenticated users can exploit misconfigurations or weak access controls. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-276, which addresses incorrect permissions for critical resources, and represents a classic case of privilege escalation through service misconfiguration. The attacker's ability to execute arbitrary code depends entirely on the privileges of the service account, making this a critical concern for system security.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as it can lead to complete system compromise when exploited successfully. An attacker who gains elevated privileges through this vector could potentially access sensitive data, modify system configurations, install malware, or establish persistent backdoors within the environment. This type of attack pattern is commonly observed in the ATT&CK framework under privilege escalation techniques, specifically targeting service account weaknesses and misconfigurations that provide unnecessary elevated access rights.
Organizations using Symphony Plus platforms should immediately assess the privilege levels of all services and ensure they operate with minimal required permissions. The recommended mitigation strategy involves implementing proper privilege separation where services run under dedicated accounts with least-privilege access rather than administrative accounts. Additionally, regular security audits should verify service configurations and monitor for unauthorized privilege changes. System administrators should also implement network segmentation and access controls to limit the potential impact of any successful exploitation attempts, while maintaining detailed logging of service operations for forensic analysis purposes.