CVE-2020-16922 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2020-16922
Vulnerability Scoring

5.3
/10
Significant Risk

Security assessments indicate that CVE-2020-16922 presents a notable risk, potentially requiring prompt mitigation.

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity: Low
    Exploits can be performed without significant complexity or special conditions.
  • Attack Vector: Local
    Vulnerability requires local system access.
  • Privileges Required: None
    No privileges are required for exploitation.
  • Scope: Unchanged
    Exploit remains within the originally vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: Required
    User interaction is necessary for successful exploitation.

CVE-2020-16922 Details

Status: Modified

Last updated: 🕗 31 Dec 2023, 20:15 UTC
Originally published on: 🕚 16 Oct 2020, 23:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 1170 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

secure@microsoft.com

CVSS3 Type

Primary

CVSS3 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

CVE-2020-16922 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2020-16922: <p>A spoofing vulnerability exists when Windows incorrectly validates file signatures. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could bypass security features and load improperly signed files.</p> <p>In an attack scenario, an attacker could bypass security features intended to prevent improperly signed files from being loaded.</p> <p>The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Windows validates file signatures.</p>

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2020-16922

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2020-16922 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2020-16922

With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2020-16922 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2020-16922, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2020-16922, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: Low
    CVE-2020-16922 could lead to minor leaks of non-critical information without major privacy breaches.
  • Integrity: Low
    Exploiting CVE-2020-16922 may cause minor changes to data without severely impacting its accuracy.
  • Availability: Low
    CVE-2020-16922 may slightly degrade system performance without fully affecting service availability.

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 0.235% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 61.91% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 38.09% of others.

CVE-2020-16922 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-347

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

  • Padding Oracle Crypto Attack CAPEC-463 An adversary is able to efficiently decrypt data without knowing the decryption key if a target system leaks data on whether or not a padding error happened while decrypting the ciphertext. A target system that leaks this type of information becomes the padding oracle and an adversary is able to make use of that oracle to efficiently decrypt data without knowing the decryption key by issuing on average 128*b calls to the padding oracle (where b is the number of bytes in the ciphertext block). In addition to performing decryption, an adversary is also able to produce valid ciphertexts (i.e., perform encryption) by using the padding oracle, all without knowing the encryption key.
  • Signature Spoofing by Improper Validation CAPEC-475 An adversary exploits a cryptographic weakness in the signature verification algorithm implementation to generate a valid signature without knowing the key.

Vulnerable Configurations

  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1607:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1607:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1709:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1709:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1803:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1803:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1809:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1809:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1903:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1903:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1909:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:1909:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:2004:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10:2004:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_7:-:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_7:-:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_8.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_8.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_rt_8.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_rt_8.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:r2:sp1:*:*:*:*:x64:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:r2:sp1:*:*:*:*:x64:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:r2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:r2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:1903:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:1903:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:1909:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:1909:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:2004:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:2004:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2019:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2019:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Protect Your Infrastructure against CVE-2020-16922: Combat Critical CVE Threats

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