# CVE-2020-9681: Adobe Genuine Service privilege escalation vulnerability

> An authenticated attacker can exploit an uncontrolled search path to rewrite administrator files, leading to elevated permissions.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Apr 2021
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h89x-6xrv-pf29

## What is CVE-2020-9681?

CVE-2020-9681 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Adobe GoCart, published on 16 Apr 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Adobe Genuine Service version 6.6 (and earlier) is affected by an Uncontrolled Search Path element vulnerability. An authenticated attacker could exploit this to rewrite the file of the administrator, which may lead to elevated permissions. Exploitation of this issue requires user interaction.

Weakness: CWE-427 (Uncontrolled Search Path Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-9681?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Adobe Genuine Service.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-9681?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-9681 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-9681 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-9681 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Adobe GoCart

- [CVE-2020-9668](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9668/): AGSService program mishandling symbolic links (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2021-40708](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-40708/): Adobe Genuine Service Installer Privilege Escalation Vulnerability (high 7.3)
- [CVE-2020-9667](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9667/): Uncontrolled Search Path Element in AGSService.exe (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2021-28568](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-28568/): Adobe Genuine Services insecure file permission could lead to privilege escalation (medium 5.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-9681 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-9681 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Adobe GoCart, published on 16 Apr 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-9681 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Adobe GoCart. 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-2020-9681/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9681/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-9681
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-9681
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-9681

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9681/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.