Microsoft Windows 10 2004 Shell Infrastructure privileges management

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Microsoft Windows 10 2004. The affected element is an unknown function of the component Shell Infrastructure. This manipulation causes privileges management. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2020-1098. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Microsoft Windows 10 2004 (Operating System). Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component Shell Infrastructure. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Shell infrastructure component improperly handles objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run processes 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 take control of an affected system.</p> <p>The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the way in which the Shell infrastructure component handles objects in memory and preventing unintended elevation from lower integrity application.</p>

The weakness was presented 09/08/2020 as confirmed security update guide (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at portal.msrc.microsoft.com. The public release was coordinated in cooperation with Microsoft. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2020-1098. The attack can be launched remotely. The successful exploitation needs a single authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 02/24/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1068 according to MITRE ATT&CK. The advisory points out:

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Shell infrastructure component improperly handles objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run processes in an elevated context.

Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

See VDB-160907, VDB-160906, VDB-160905 and VDB-160904 for similar entries. Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Microsoft

Name

• Windows

Version

• 10 2004

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.microsoft.com/
• Product: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows

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