CVE-2020-1472 | Netlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Exp

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when an attacker establishes a vulnerable Netlogon secure channel connection to a domain controller, using the Netlogon Remote Protocol (MS-NRPC). An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run a specially crafted application on a device on the network. To exploit the vulnerability, an unauthenticated attacker would be required to use MS-NRPC to connect to a domain controller to obtain domain administrator access. Microsoft is addressing the vulnerability in a phased two-part rollout. These updates address the vulnerability by modifying how Netlogon handles the usage of Netlogon secure channels. For guidelines on how to manage the changes required for this vulnerability and more information on the phased rollout, see How to manage the changes in Netlogon secure channel connections associated with CVE-2020-1472 (updated September 28, 2020). When the second phase of Windows updates become available in Q1 2021, customers will be notified via a revision to this security vulnerability. If you wish to be notified when these updates are released, we recommend that you register for the security notifications mailer to be alerted of content changes to this advisory. See Microsoft Technical Security Notifications.

Published: 2020-08-17 Last update: 2026-02-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-1472 is rated Critical Active Threat (83/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 94.38%, 100th percentile). Core evidence: CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2021-11-03) affecting Microsoft / Netlogon. Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. Mandatory action: The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2020-1472

Name: Microsoft Netlogon Privilege Escalation Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2021-11-03

Action due: 2022-05-03

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-1472

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
49071 exploit_db edb 2020-11-18 Exploit-DB ↗
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-1472

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-11-21 93.39% 94.38% +0.99%
2 2025-11-18 94.45% 93.39% -1.06%
3 2025-03-17 94.45%

Full EPSS history (32 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-1472

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]
10.0 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
3.9 6.0 [email protected]
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-1472

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-1472

vendor priority summary link
alpine CVE-2020-1472: 1 source package rows (samba); 10 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-1472
debian not yet assigned CVE-2020-1472 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (samba), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-1472
gentoo normal CVE-2020-1472: 1 GLSA(s) (202012-24), 1 atom(s) (net-fs/samba); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-1472
redhat critical https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-1472
suse critical CVE-2020-1472 severity critical: SUSE including 1090 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 2294 product×package rows across 91 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, … (91 product lines)): Fixed 2133, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 4. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-1472/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-1472 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (samba), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, focal, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 4, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-1472

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-1472

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft windows_server_1903 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_1903:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_1909 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_1909:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2004 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2004:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2008 r2 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:r2:sp1:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_server_2012 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2012 r2 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:r2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2016 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2019 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2019:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_20h2 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_20h2:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 31 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 32 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 20.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
synology directory_server < 4.4.5-0101 cpe:2.3:a:synology:directory_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
samba samba < 4.10.18 cpe:2.3:a:samba:samba:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
samba samba >= 4.11.0, < 4.11.13 cpe:2.3:a:samba:samba:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
samba samba >= 4.12.0, < 4.12.7 cpe:2.3:a:samba:samba:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle zfs_storage_appliance_kit 8.8 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:zfs_storage_appliance_kit:8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-1472

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-09/msg00080.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-09/msg00086.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159190/Zerologon-Proof-Of-Concept.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160127/Zerologon-Netlogon-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/09/17/2 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/11/msg00041.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/H4OTFBL6YDVFH2TBJFJIE4FMHPJEEJK3/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ST6X3A2XXYMGD4INR26DQ4FP4QSM753B/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TAPQQZZAT4TG3XVRTAFV2Y3S7OAHFBUP/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-1472 Patch Vendor Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202012-24 Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4510-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4510-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4559-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/490028 Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.synology.com/security/advisory/Synology_SA_20_21 Third Party Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-1472 US Government Resource
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