CVE-2020-35152
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 · uneditedCloudflare WARP for Windows allows privilege escalation due to an unquoted service path. A malicious user or process running with non-administrative privileges can become an administrator by abusing the unquoted service path issue. Since version 1.2.2695.1, the vulnerability was fixed by adding quotes around the service's binary path. This issue affects Cloudflare WARP for Windows, versions prior to 1.2.2695.1.
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 confidenceCloudflare WARP for Windows contains an unquoted service path vulnerability where the service binary path contains spaces and is not enclosed in quotation marks. This allows a local attacker to place a malicious executable in an intermediate path directory and achieve arbitrary code execution with elevated (SYSTEM) privileges, enabling privilege escalation from non-administrative to administrator 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< 1.2.2695.1CVSS 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
- 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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Check if Cloudflare WARP service is installedRun 'sc query warp' or 'Get-Service -Name warp' in PowerShell/Command PromptAffected if The service does not exist, meaning WARP is not installed and the system is not affected.
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Retrieve the service binary path configurationRun 'sc qc warp' (Command Prompt) or '(Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -Filter "Name='warp'").PathName' (PowerShell)Affected if A path is returned that contains spaces and is NOT enclosed in quotation marks (e.g., C:\Program Files\Cloudflare\WARP\warp.exe instead of "C:\Program Files\Cloudflare\WARP\warp.exe").
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Verify the installed version of Cloudflare WARPRun '"C:\Program Files\Cloudflare\WARP\warp.exe" --version' or check the registry at 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Cloudflare\WARP' for the Version valueAffected if The installed version is lower than 1.2.2695.1.
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Inspect intermediate directories in the service pathExamine each folder in the unquoted path (e.g., if path is C:\Program Files\Cloudflare\WARP\warp.exe, check C:\Program Files\ and C:\Program Files\Cloudflare\) for any unexpected or malicious executablesAffected if A malicious executable with a matching intermediate path component name (e.g., Program.exe in C:\) is found, indicating potential exploitation.
A user is affected if the Cloudflare WARP service is installed, the service binary path contains spaces without quotation marks, and the installed version is below 1.2.2695.1.
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 data1.2.2695.1
Upgrade Cloudflare WARP for Windows to version 1.2.2695.1 or later, which fixes the vulnerability by properly quoting the service binary path in the Windows service configuration.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-35152 — 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-2020-35152 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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