CVE-2020-11507
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 · uneditedAn Untrusted Search Path vulnerability in Malwarebytes AdwCleaner 8.0.3 could cause arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges when a malicious DLL library is loaded.
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 confidenceMalwarebytes AdwCleaner 8.0.3 contains an Untrusted Search Path vulnerability where the application loads DLL libraries without using fully qualified paths. An attacker can place a malicious DLL in a location from which the application loads libraries (such as the current working directory), causing arbitrary code execution with SYSTEM privileges when the application is launched.
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= 8.0.3CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Identify installed AdwCleaner versionOpen Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or the application's Help > About dialog to find the exact version number of Malwarebytes AdwCleanerAffected if The version is exactly 8.0.3
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Locate AdwCleaner executableFind the installation directory - typically C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\AdwCleaner or C:\Program Files (x86)\Malwarebytes\AdwCleaner - and note the pathAffected if The executable exists at any path and version is 8.0.3
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Check for unauthorized DLLs in application directoryInspect the AdwCleaner installation folder for any unexpected or recently added DLL files that are not part of the standard installationAffected if Any suspicious DLL files are present in the same folder as AdwCleaner.exe
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Monitor DLL loading behaviorUse Process Monitor (from Sysinternals) with a filter for AdwCleaner.exe to observe which DLLs it loads and from which paths during startupAffected if The application loads DLLs from the current working directory or other untrusted paths rather than only from the application directory or system paths
You are affected if Malwarebytes AdwCleaner version 8.0.3 is installed, regardless of DLL presence, since the vulnerable untrusted DLL search path behavior exists in this specific version.
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 dataEnsure all DLL loading calls use explicit, full absolute paths and disable unsafe DLL search order behaviors. Update to a patched version of AdwCleaner when available.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,480.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11507 — 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-2020-11507 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