CVE-2020-27518

Exp

All versions of Windscribe VPN for Mac and Windows <= v2.02.10 contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the WindscribeService component. A low privilege user could leverage several openvpn options to execute code as root/SYSTEM.

Published: 2021-05-04 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-27518 is rated Exploit Available (59.2/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.46%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-27518

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-27518

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 2026-06-15 0.04% 0.46% +0.42%
2 2023-03-07 1.00% 0.04% -0.96%
3 2022-04-01 — 1.00% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-27518

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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: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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-27518

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-27518

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
windscribe windscribe <= 2.02.10 cpe:2.3:a:windscribe:windscribe:*:*:*:*:*:macos:*:*
windscribe windscribe <= 2.02.10 cpe:2.3:a:windscribe:windscribe:*:*:*:*:*:windows:*:*

References for CVE-2020-27518

URL Tags
http://windscribe.com Vendor Advisory
https://jeffs.sh/CVEs/CVE-2020-27518.txt Exploit Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence