CVE-2020-15931
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 · uneditedNetwrix Account Lockout Examiner before 5.1 allows remote attackers to capture the Net-NTLMv1/v2 authentication challenge hash of the Domain Administrator (that is configured within the product in its installation state) by generating a single Kerberos Pre-Authentication Failed (ID 4771) event on a Domain Controller.
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 confidenceNetwrix Account Lockout Examiner before version 5.1 contains an information disclosure vulnerability where remote attackers can capture Net-NTLMv1/v2 authentication hashes of the Domain Administrator by triggering a single Kerberos Pre-Authentication Failed event (ID 4771) on a Domain Controller. The captured hash can then be cracked offline or potentially relayed for privilege escalation.
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< 5.1CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 Netwrix Account Lockout Examiner is installedCheck for the application in the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall or look for the executable in typical installation paths such as C:\Program Files\Netwrix\Account Lockout Examiner or C:\Program Files (x86)\Netwrix\Account Lockout ExaminerAffected if The software is found installed on the system
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Determine the installed versionRight-click the Netwrix Account Lockout Examiner executable (typically named AccountLockoutExaminer.exe), select Properties, and view the Version tab, or check the version in Add/Remove ProgramsAffected if The version number displayed is lower than 5.1 (for example, 5.0, 4.x, or earlier)
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Confirm the tool is configured for Domain Controller monitoringOpen Netwrix Account Lockout Examiner, go to Settings or Configuration, and verify if it is connected to or configured to monitor a Domain Controller for account lockout eventsAffected if The tool is actively monitoring a Domain Controller and processing Kerberos event ID 4771 events
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Check for exposure of authentication hashesReview network traffic or logs if any Net-NTLM hash capture has occurred; use a network sniffer on the interface used by the application to observe any potential hash transmission, or inspect local application logs for unexpected authentication dataAffected if Net-NTLMv1/v2 hashes are being transmitted or logged by the application
If Netwrix Account Lockout Examiner version 5.1 or later is not installed and the tool is configured to monitor a Domain Controller, the environment is likely affected by this information disclosure vulnerability.
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 data5.1
Upgrade Netwrix Account Lockout Examiner to version 5.1 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Additionally, monitor for suspicious ID 4771 events and consider implementing network segmentation to limit exposure of Domain Controller communications.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-15931 — 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-2020-15931 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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