# CVE-2020-5324: Path traversal in Dell Client Consumer and Commercial Platforms

> A local attacker can trick an administrator into overwriting arbitrary files via symlink attacks in the Dell Firmware Update Utility, potentially leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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:** 21 Feb 2020
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h3cp-w4mh-hq4h

## What is CVE-2020-5324?

CVE-2020-5324 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Dell Inspiron 3480 Firmware, published on 21 Feb 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Dell Client Consumer and Commercial Platforms contain an Arbitrary File Overwrite Vulnerability. The vulnerability is limited to the Dell Firmware Update Utility during the time window while being executed by an administrator. During this time window, a locally authenticated low-privileged malicious user could exploit this vulnerability by tricking an administrator into overwriting arbitrary files via a symlink attack. The vulnerability does not affect the actual binary payload that the update utility delivers.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access), CWE-427 (Uncontrolled Search Path Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-5324?

It affects 113 products.


Products: Dell G3 15 3590 Firmware, Dell G3 3579 Firmware, Dell G3 3779 Firmware, Dell G5 15 5590 Firmware, Dell G5 5090 Firmware, Dell G5 5587 Firmware, Dell G7 15 7590 Firmware, Dell G7 17 7790 Firmware, Dell G7 7588 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 14 5490 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3480 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3481 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3490 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3493 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3580 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3581 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3583 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3584 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3590 Firmware, Dell Inspiron 3593 Firmware and 93 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-5324?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-5324 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-5324 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5324 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-5324 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-5324 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Dell Inspiron 3480 Firmware, published on 21 Feb 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-2020-5324 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Dell Inspiron 3480 Firmware. 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-2020-5324/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5324/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-5324
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5324
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-5324

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5324/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.