CVE-2020-10551
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedQQBrowser before 10.5.3870.400 installs a Windows service TsService.exe. This file is writable by anyone belonging to the NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users group, which includes all local and remote users. This can be abused by local attackers to escalate privileges to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM by writing a malicious executable to the location of TsService.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceQQBrowser installs a Windows service (TsService.exe) with file permissions allowing any authenticated user to write to the service executable location. Since Windows services run with elevated SYSTEM privileges, an attacker with authenticated user access can replace TsService.exe with a malicious executable and achieve privilege escalation to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 10.5.3870.400CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if QQBrowser is installed and get its versionOpen Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Tencent\QQBrowser (or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Tencent\QQBrowser on 32-bit). Look for the Version value in the right pane. Alternatively, check C:\Program Files (x86)\Tencent\QQBrowser\ for the installation folder.Affected if The installed version is less than 10.5.3870.400
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Locate TsService.exe on the systemSearch for TsService.exe in common installation paths: C:\Program Files (x86)\Tencent\QQBrowser\, C:\Program Files\Tencent\QQBrowser\, or use the command: dir /s C:\TsService.exeAffected if TsService.exe exists on the system (the vulnerability requires this file to be present)
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Check if TsService.exe service is registeredOpen Command Prompt and run: sc query TsService or check Services.msc for a service named TsServiceAffected if The TsService Windows service exists on the system
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Verify file permissions on TsService.exeRight-click TsService.exe in Explorer, go to Properties > Security tab, and check the permissions for Users and Authenticated Users groups. Alternatively, run: icacls "C:\Program Files (x86)\Tencent\QQBrowser\TsService.exe" (adjust path as needed)Affected if Authenticated Users or Users group has WRITE or WRITE_OWNER or DELETE permissions on TsService.exe (this is the core vulnerability condition)
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Check if TsService.exe service is runningRun: sc query TsService or look for TsService.exe in Task Manager's Services tabAffected if The service is running (indicates the vulnerable service is active, though the permission flaw exists even if stopped)
A user is affected if QQBrowser version is below 10.5.3870.400, TsService.exe exists, and non-admin accounts have write permissions to that file location.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data10.5.3870.400
Restrict write permissions on TsService.exe to administrators only, or disable/remove the TsService service. If a patched version of QQBrowser is available, upgrade to the latest version.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-10551 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-10551 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data