CVE-2020-12332
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 · uneditedImproper permissions in the installer for the Intel(R) HID Event Filter Driver, all versions, may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable escalation of privilege via local access.
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 · moderate confidenceThe Intel HID Event Filter Driver installer sets improper file system permissions that allow an authenticated local user to modify driver files or configuration, potentially enabling privilege escalation to system or kernel level access.
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< 2.2.1.372CVSS 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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Verify Intel HID Event Filter Driver is installedOpen Device Manager, expand 'Human Interface Devices', and look for 'Intel HID Event Filter' or check the Windows registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\I2cHidFilter for presence of the driver.Affected if The driver is present in the system.
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Determine installed driver versionRight-click the Intel HID Event Filter device in Device Manager, select Properties, go to the Driver tab, and note the Driver Version. Alternatively, right-click the .sys file in C:\Windows\System32\drivers (typically i2csmb.sys or similar) and check Properties > Details > File version.Affected if The driver version is lower than 2.2.1.372.
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Locate driver installation directoryOpen Device Manager, right-click the Intel HID Event Filter device, select Properties > Driver Details to list loaded driver files. Note the path (commonly C:\Windows\System32\drivers or C:\Program Files\Intel).Affected if Driver files are present on the system.
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Inspect file system permissions on driver filesRight-click each driver .sys or .inf file identified in the previous step, select Properties > Security, and verify that standard users or non-privileged accounts have Write or Modify permissions. Use 'icacls <filename>' from an elevated command prompt for detailed permission output.Affected if Non-privileged users have Write, Modify, or Full Control permissions on driver files or configuration.
A user is affected if the Intel HID Event Filter Driver is installed with a version below 2.2.1.372 and non-administrative accounts can modify driver files or related configuration.
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 data2.2.1.372
Apply vendor-supplied patches when available; until then, restrict local non-administrative access to systems with this driver and verify installer packages are obtained only from official Intel sources.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-12332 — 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-2020-12332 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
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