Free AI Safety Workshop — in collaboration with explainx.aiSave your seat
AgentbeamBeta
Known exploited vulnerability · Microsoft

CVE-2020-1054: Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

highCVSS 3.1 7.0Exploited

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows when the Windows kernel-mode driver fails to properly handle objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code in kernel mode. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

Published May 21, 2020 · Updated Oct 8, 2026

Required action

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Advisory details

From the National Vulnerability Database. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows when the Windows kernel-mode driver fails to properly handle objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code in kernel mode. 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 first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and take control of an affected system. The update addresses this vulnerability by correcting how the Windows kernel-mode driver handles objects in memory.

References

How this page is made: the data panel comes from the GitHub Advisory Database, CISA’s KEV catalog, the NVD and FIRST EPSS, and updates twice a day. No analysis has been written for this entry yet. Methodology

More Microsoft vulnerabilities

All Microsoft entries