CVE-2020-5358
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 · uneditedDell Encryption versions prior to 10.7 and Dell Endpoint Security Suite versions prior to 2.7 contain a privilege escalation vulnerability due to incorrect permissions. A local malicious user with low privileges could potentially exploit this vulnerability to gain elevated privilege on the affected system with the help of a symbolic link.
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 confidenceDell Encryption prior to 10.7 and Dell Endpoint Security Suite prior to 2.7 contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability caused by incorrect file permissions that allow a low-privilege user to manipulate symbolic links and gain elevated system 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<= 10.7.0< 2.7CVSS 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 installed Dell security productCheck the system for installed Dell Encryption or Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise. On Windows, review installed programs in Add/Remove Programs or check for Dell security software services running. On Linux, check for installed Dell encryption packages via package manager.Affected if Either Dell Encryption or Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise is installed on the system.
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Determine Dell Encryption versionIf Dell Encryption is installed, identify its version by checking the application version through the software itself, Windows registry keys under HKLM\Software\Dell\Encryption or HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Dell\Encryption, or by querying the installed package information.Affected if The installed version is 10.7.0 or earlier.
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Determine Dell Endpoint Security Suite versionIf Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise is installed, identify its version through the application, Windows registry under HKLM\Software\Dell\EndpointSecuritySuite, or by checking installed package information.Affected if The installed version is earlier than 2.7.
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Verify file permission exposureLocate the Dell encryption or security suite installation directory and examine file permissions on executable files and configuration files. Specifically check if low-privilege users have write permissions to any executable, service binary, or symbolic link target used by the security software.Affected if Non-admin users have write permissions to files or symbolic links used by the Dell security software, allowing manipulation for privilege escalation.
You are affected if Dell Encryption version 10.7.0 or earlier, or Dell Endpoint Security Suite Enterprise version earlier than 2.7, is installed AND low-privilege users can modify files or symbolic links associated with the security software.
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 data2.7
Upgrade to Dell Encryption version 10.7 or later, or Dell Endpoint Security Suite version 2.7 or later, to remediate the incorrect permission vulnerability.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-5358 — 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-2020-5358 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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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data