CVE-2020-12612
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 issue was discovered in BeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows through 5.6. When specifying a program to elevate, it can typically be found within the Program Files (x86) folder and therefore uses the %ProgramFiles(x86)% environment variable. However, when this same policy gets pushed to a 32bit machine, this environment variable does not exist. Therefore, since the standard user can create a user level environment variable, they can repoint this variable to any folder the user has full control of. Then, the folder structure can be created in such a way that a rule matches and arbitrary code runs elevated.
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 confidenceBeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows (versions up to 5.6) uses the %ProgramFiles(x86)% environment variable to specify programs for elevation. On 32-bit machines where this variable doesn't exist, standard users can create a user-level environment variable to redirect it to a folder they control. By crafting folder structures that match elevation rules, users can execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
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< 5.6= 5.6CVSS 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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Identify Privilege Management versionCheck the installed version of BeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows (typically via registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\BeyondTrust\Privilege Management or the product's About/Version information)Affected if The installed version is 5.6 or any version lower than 5.6
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Determine Windows architectureCheck if the Windows operating system is 32-bit (run 'systeminfo' or check PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE environment variable; on 32-bit Windows, %ProgramFiles(x86)% is not defined by default)Affected if Running a 32-bit version of Windows where %ProgramFiles(x86)% is not a native system environment variable
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Verify %ProgramFiles(x86)% variable presenceOpen a command prompt and type 'echo %ProgramFiles(x86)%' to see if this environment variable resolves to a path, or check System Properties > Environment Variables for both User and System variablesAffected if The %ProgramFiles(x86)% variable does not exist or resolves to an unexpected/user-controlled location
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Review elevation policies for vulnerable path patternsExamine the BeyondTrust Privilege Management elevation rules/policies (check configuration files or the management console) for any rules that use %ProgramFiles(x86)% as part of the program path to be elevatedAffected if Any elevation rule explicitly references %ProgramFiles(x86)% in the target program path
You are affected if running Privilege Management version 5.6 or lower on a 32-bit Windows system with elevation rules that reference %ProgramFiles(x86)%, especially if standard users can set user-level environment variables.
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.
dbcve · scoped5.6
Ensure elevation policies use hard-coded absolute paths or verify the %ProgramFiles(x86)% variable exists before using it in rules, especially for deployments on 32-bit Windows systems.
BeyondTrust Privilege Management for Windows version greater than 5.6 (contact BeyondTrust for specific fixed release)
- Identify all systems running Privilege Management for Windows version 5.6 or earlier
- Contact BeyondTrust support or visit the official BeyondTrust support portal to obtain the latest stable release that addresses CVE-2020-12612
- Plan and schedule an upgrade window following your organization's change management process
- Before deploying to production, test the new version in a non-production environment to verify the fix and ensure compatibility with existing policies
- Deploy the upgraded Privilege Management for Windows agent to all affected endpoints
- Verify that existing elevation policies function correctly after the upgrade
- Confirm that the %ProgramFiles(x86)% environment variable handling has been fixed on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation12.0 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-2020-12612 — 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-2020-12612 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
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