# CVE-2020-13552: Privilege escalation in Advantech

> Local attackers can escalate privileges to SYSTEM by replacing binaries in the Advantech WebAccess/SCADA installation directory due to insecure file permissions.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:** 17 Feb 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-x6wj-ww64-ph44

## What is CVE-2020-13552?

CVE-2020-13552 is a high-severity vulnerability in Advantech, published on 17 Feb 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An exploitable local privilege elevation vulnerability exists in the file system permissions of Advantech WebAccess/SCADA 9.0.1 installation. In privilege escalation via multiple service executables in installation folder of WebAccess, an attacker can either replace binary or loaded modules to execute code with NT SYSTEM privilege.

Weakness: CWE-276 (Incorrect Default Permissions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-13552?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Advantech Webaccess\/Scada.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-13552?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-13552 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-13552 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-13552 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Advantech

- [CVE-2023-1437](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-1437/): CVE-2023-1437 (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-32943](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-32943/): Memory corruption in WebAccess/SCADA (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-6519](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-6519/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-6523](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-6523/): SQL injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-22669](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-22669/): Privilege escalation in Advantech WebAccess/SCADA (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-13552 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-13552 is a high-severity vulnerability in Advantech, published on 17 Feb 2021. 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-2020-13552 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Advantech. 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-2020-13552/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-13552/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-13552
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-13552
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-13552

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-13552/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.