Microsoft Windows up to Server 2019 COM Server access control

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Microsoft Windows. Affected is an unknown function of the component COM Server. The manipulation leads to access control. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2020-16916. 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, which was classified as critical, has been found in Microsoft Windows (Operating System). This issue affects some unknown processing of the component COM Server. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a access control vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-284. The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows improperly handles COM object creation. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code with elevated privileges.</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 how the Windows COM Server creates COM objects.</p>

The weakness was presented 10/13/2020 as confirmed security guidance (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at portal.msrc.microsoft.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2020-16916. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. 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 Windows improperly handles COM object creation. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code with elevated privileges. 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. The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the Windows COM Server creates COM objects.

It is declared as proof-of-concept.

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

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Microsoft

Name

• Windows

Version

• 7 SP1
• 8.1
• 10
• 10 1607
• 10 1709
• 10 1803
• 10 1809
• 10 1903
• 10 1909
• 10 2004
• RT 8.1
• Server 1903
• Server 1909
• Server 2004
• Server 2008 R2 SP1
• Server 2008 SP2
• Server 2012
• Server 2012 R2
• Server 2016
• Server 2019

License

• commercial

Website

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

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