CVE-2020-3979 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2020-3979
Vulnerability Scoring

7.8

/10

Very High Risk

Highly exploitable, CVE-2020-3979 poses a critical security risk that could lead to severe breaches.

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-2020-3979 Details

Status: Analyzed

Last updated: 🕦 21 Jul 2021, 11:39 UTC
Originally published on: 🕕 18 Sep 2020, 18:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 305 days

CVSS Release: version 3

CVSS3 Source

nvd@nist.gov

CVSS3 Type

Primary

CVSS3 Vector

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

CVE-2020-3979 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2020-3979: InstallBuilder for Qt Windows (versions prior to 20.7.0) installers look for plugins at a predictable location at initialization time, writable by non-admin users. While those plugins are not required, they are loaded if present, which could allow an attacker to plant a malicious library which could result in code execution with the security scope of the installer.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2020-3979

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2020-3979 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-2020-3979

With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2020-3979 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-2020-3979, 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-2020-3979, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

Confidentiality: High
Exploiting CVE-2020-3979 can result in unauthorized access to sensitive data, severely compromising data privacy.
Integrity: High
CVE-2020-3979 could allow unauthorized modifications to data, potentially affecting system reliability and trust.
Availability: High
CVE-2020-3979 can disrupt system operations, potentially causing complete denial of service (DoS).

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

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

EPSS Score: 0.072% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 34.81% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 65.19% of others.

CVE-2020-3979 References

External References

https://blog.installbuilder.com/2020/08/updates-and-bug-fixes-with-version-2070.html

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-427

CAPEC Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification

Leveraging/Manipulating Configuration File Search Paths CAPEC-38 This pattern of attack sees an adversary load a malicious resource into a program's standard path so that when a known command is executed then the system instead executes the malicious component. The adversary can either modify the search path a program uses, like a PATH variable or classpath, or they can manipulate resources on the path to point to their malicious components. J2EE applications and other component based applications that are built from multiple binaries can have very long list of dependencies to execute. If one of these libraries and/or references is controllable by the attacker then application controls can be circumvented by the attacker.
Search Order Hijacking CAPEC-471 An adversary exploits a weakness in an application's specification of external libraries to exploit the functionality of the loader where the process loading the library searches first in the same directory in which the process binary resides and then in other directories. Exploitation of this preferential search order can allow an attacker to make the loading process load the adversary's rogue library rather than the legitimate library. This attack can be leveraged with many different libraries and with many different loading processes. No forensic trails are left in the system's registry or file system that an incorrect library had been loaded.

Vulnerable Configurations

cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:4.5.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:5.4.7:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:5.4.7:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:5.4.8:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:5.4.8:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:6.0.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:6.0.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:6.2.4:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:6.2.4:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:6.2.7:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:6.2.7:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:6.3.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:6.3.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:7.2.3:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:7.2.3:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:7.2.4:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:7.2.4:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:7.2.5:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:7.2.5:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:7.2.6:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:7.2.6:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:8.0.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:8.0.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:8.3.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:8.3.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:8.5.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:8.5.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:8.5.2:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:8.5.2:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:8.6.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:9.5.3:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:15.10.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:15.10.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:15.10.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:15.10.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:16.1.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:16.1.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:16.3.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:16.6.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:16.7.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:16.7.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:16.8.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:17.12.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
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cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.3.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.4.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.4.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.5.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.5.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.6.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.6.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.7.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.7.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.8.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.8.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.9.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.9.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.10.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.10.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.11.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.11.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.12.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:18.12.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.1.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.1.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.2.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.2.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.3.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.3.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.4.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.4.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.4.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.4.1:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.8.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.8.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.9.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:installbuilder:installbuilder:19.9.0:*:*:*:*:qt:*:*

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