CVE-2020-1506 | Windows Start-Up Application Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way that the Wininit.dll handles objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could execute code with elevated permissions.</p> <p>There are multiple ways an attacker could exploit the vulnerability:</p> <ul> <li><p>In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability and then convince a user to view the website. An attacker would have no way to force users to view the attacker-controlled content. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to take action, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or in an Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker's website, or by opening an attachment sent through email.</p> </li> <li><p>In a file sharing attack scenario, an attacker could provide a specially crafted document file that is designed to exploit this vulnerability, and then convince a user to open the document file.</p> </li> </ul> <p>The security update addresses the vulnerability by ensuring the Wininit.dll properly handles objects in memory.</p>

Published: 2020-09-11 Last update: 2026-02-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2020-1506 is rated Moderate Risk (55.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.36%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-1506

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 2.63% 3.36% +0.73%
2 2025-11-18 3.42% 2.63% -0.79%
3 2025-09-24 3.42%

Full EPSS history (22 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-1506

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.1 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/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:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.8 4.2 [email protected]
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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: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.
2.8 5.9 [email protected]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-1506

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-1506

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft internet_explorer 11 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:internet_explorer:11:-:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-1506

cvelogic Threat Intelligence