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CVE-2020-1472

5.5, medium Known exploited Used in ransomware

Microsoft Netlogon Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

NVD (opens in a new tab) CVE.org (opens in a new tab) CISA KEV catalogue (opens in a new tab)
CVSS
5.5, medium medium CVSS v3.1
EPSS, next 30 days
99% higher than 99.9% of scored CVEs
Exploitation
Confirmed in the wild
Published
17 Aug 20206 years ago

Known exploited

CISA added this to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on 3 Nov 2021 and links it to ransomware activity. US federal agencies had to remediate by 3 May 2022, a deadline that has passed.

Required action. Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Description

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.

Details

Vendor
Microsoft
Product
Windows Server version 2004
Weakness
n/a
Status
Analyzed
Updated
17 Jun 2026
Assigner
secure@microsoft.com

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

References 18

Exploit code 2

Patches and fixes 2

Advisories 13

5 more

Other references 1

The kind is read from NVD's tags where present and from the shape of the URL otherwise, so treat it as a hint.

Other Microsoft CVEs

Every Microsoft CVE we hold

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Beyond this page

Is CVE-2020-1472 in your network?

This page tells you how dangerous CVE-2020-1472 is out there. Whether it sits on one of your devices, only a scan of your own network can tell. That is what our systems do, every day, for the companies we protect.

CVE-2020-1472 is in the CISA catalogue of exploited vulnerabilities: attackers are already exploiting it.

  • EXYS7600 OCELOT

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  • EXYS7950 KONDRA

    Detect it if it's exploited

    Until the patch is applied, Kondra monitors your network, events and endpoints in real time. It keeps an inventory of the software installed on every endpoint, and its anomaly detection rules flag what an attacker does once inside.

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Check your exposure

Assembled from the NVD 2.0 API, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog and FIRST EPSS. Scores are as of our last collection on 17 Oct 2026, not the live upstream state.