# CVE-2020-11552: Privilege escalation in n/a

> An unauthenticated attacker with physical access can escalate privileges to SYSTEM via a certificate dialog in the Windows login self-service client.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 11 Aug 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6hrv-v9h4-p42x

## What is CVE-2020-11552?

CVE-2020-11552 is a critical vulnerability in Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus, published on 11 Aug 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus before build 6003 because it does not properly enforce user privileges associated with a Certificate dialog. This vulnerability could allow an unauthenticated attacker to escalate privileges on a Windows host. An attacker does not require any privilege on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. One option is the self-service option on the Windows login screen. Upon selecting this option, the thick-client software is launched, which connects to a remote ADSelfService Plus server to facilitate self-service operations. An unauthenticated attacker having physical access to the host could trigger a security alert by supplying a self-signed SSL certificate to the client. The View Certificate option from the security alert allows an attacker to export a displayed certificate to a file. This can further cascade to a dialog that can open Explorer as SYSTEM. By navigating from Explorer to \windows\system32, cmd.exe can be launched as a SYSTEM.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-11552?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-11552?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-11552 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-11552 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-11552 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus

- [CVE-2021-40539](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-40539/): Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-28810](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-28810/): Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus Remote Code Execution (medium 6.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-3905](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3905/): Server-side request forgery in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2023-35854](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-35854/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-37422](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-37422/): SQL injection in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-11552 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-11552 is a critical vulnerability in Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus, published on 11 Aug 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-11552 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Zohocorp Manageengine Adselfservice Plus. 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-2020-11552/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11552/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-11552
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-11552
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-11552

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11552/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.