# CVE-2020-10551: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges to SYSTEM by overwriting the writable TsService.exe file in QQBrowser.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 Apr 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hqv3-p7gh-g339

## What is CVE-2020-10551?

CVE-2020-10551 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 9 Apr 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

QQBrowser before 10.5.3870.400 installs a Windows service TsService.exe. This file is writable by anyone belonging to the NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users group, which includes all local and remote users. This can be abused by local attackers to escalate privileges to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM by writing a malicious executable to the location of TsService.

Weakness: CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-10551?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Tencent Qqbrowser.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-10551?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-10551 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-10551 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10551 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Privilege escalation in QQBrowser (github_poc): https://github.com/seqred-s-a/CVE-2020-10551

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-10551 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-10551 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 9 Apr 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10551 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10551/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10551/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-10551
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-10551
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-10551

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10551/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.