CVE-2020-11552
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 elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus before build 6003 because it does not properly enforce user privileges associated with a Certificate dialog. This vulnerability could allow an unauthenticated attacker to escalate privileges on a Windows host. An attacker does not require any privilege on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. One option is the self-service option on the Windows login screen. Upon selecting this option, the thick-client software is launched, which connects to a remote ADSelfService Plus server to facilitate self-service operations. An unauthenticated attacker having physical access to the host could trigger a security alert by supplying a self-signed SSL certificate to the client. The View Certificate option from the security alert allows an attacker to export a displayed certificate to a file. This can further cascade to a dialog that can open Explorer as SYSTEM. By navigating from Explorer to \windows\system32, cmd.exe can be launched as a SYSTEM.
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 analysisPrivileges are granted, or fail to be dropped, incorrectly, so an action runs with more power than it should. An attacker who reaches that path inherits the excess privilege. The fix is least-privilege throughout, with explicit, checked transitions whenever privilege changes.
General guidance for the improper privilege management class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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<= 5.8= 6.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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.
dbcve · scopedManageEngine ADSelfService Plus build 6003 or later (version 6.0 build 6003+)
- 1. Backup the current ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus installation, including the database and configuration files.
- 2. Download the latest version of ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus from the official vendor site (www.manageengine.com).
- 3. Ensure the build number is 6003 or higher, which contains the fix for CVE-2020-11552.
- 4. Stop the ADSelfService Plus service before upgrading.
- 5. Install the new build following the vendor's upgrade documentation.
- 6. Start the ADSelfService Plus service after upgrade completes.
- 7. Verify the application is functioning correctly and test the certificate-related functionality to confirm the vulnerability is remediated.
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11552 — 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-2020-11552 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
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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