CVE-2020-1048Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 16.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 3.0% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Print Spooler service improperly allows arbitrary writing to the file system. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code with elevated system privileges. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would have to log on to an affected system and run a specially crafted script or application. The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the Windows Print Spooler Component writes to the file system.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module for it.
Show the exploits1
Metasploit modules1 module
- Microsoft Spooler Local Privilege Elevation Vulnerability (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/windows/local/cve_2020_1048_printerdemonRank normaldisclosed 4 Nov 2019
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By microsoft
- 7 months later
· 7 months later
Published
- 6 years later
· 6 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| microsoftCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 16.5% · top 3.0% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1507
- affected 10.0.10240.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1607
- affected 10.0.14393.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1709
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1803
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1809
- affected 10.0.17763.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1809
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1909
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
- affected 6.1.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 7 Service Pack 1
- affected 6.1.0 – < publication
- affected 6.3.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
- affected 6.1.7601.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation)
- affected 6.1.7601.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2
- affected 6.0.6003.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)
- affected 6.0.6003.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2012
- affected 6.2.9200.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)
- affected 6.2.9200.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2012 R2
- affected 6.3.9600.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)
- affected 6.3.9600.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2016
- affected 10.0.14393.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)
- affected 10.0.14393.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2019
- affected 10.0.17763.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
- affected 10.0.17763.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server, version 1803 (Server Core Installation)
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation)
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation)
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
References
References4
- Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisorypatch
- https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-1048 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158222/Windows-Print-Spooler-Privilege-Escalation.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159217/Microsoft-Spooler-Local-Privilege-Elevation.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2020-11941 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2020-1048)Record last updated .