# CVE-2020-12612: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A standard user can escalate privileges to run arbitrary code by manipulating environment variables on 32-bit systems in BeyondTrust Privilege Management.

- **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:** 12 Dec 2023
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j69j-38vv-w2h9

## What is CVE-2020-12612?

CVE-2020-12612 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Dec 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in BeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows through 5.6. When specifying a program to elevate, it can typically be found within the Program Files (x86) folder and therefore uses the %ProgramFiles(x86)% environment variable. However, when this same policy gets pushed to a 32bit machine, this environment variable does not exist. Therefore, since the standard user can create a user level environment variable, they can repoint this variable to any folder the user has full control of. Then, the folder structure can be created in such a way that a rule matches and arbitrary code runs elevated.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-12612?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Beyondtrust Privilege Management for Windows.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-12612?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-12612 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-12612 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-12612 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2020-12613](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12613/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-12614](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12614/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2020-12615](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12615/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2020-28369](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-28369/): Path traversal in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2021-42254](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-42254/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-12612 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-12612 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Dec 2023. 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-2020-12612 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-2020-12612/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12612/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-12612
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-12612
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-12612

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-12612/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.