CVE-2020-8099
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 · uneditedA vulnerability in the improper handling of junctions in Bitdefender Antivirus Free can allow an unprivileged user to substitute a quarantined file, and restore it to a privileged location. This issue affects: Bitdefender Antivirus Free versions prior to 1.0.17.
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 confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Bitdefender Antivirus Free where improper handling of NTFS junction points during quarantine operations allows an unprivileged user to substitute a quarantined file and restore it to a privileged system location, potentially achieving 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< 1.0.17CVSS 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
- Physical
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L
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 Bitdefender Antivirus Free is installedOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' in PowerShell to list installed software. Look for 'Bitdefender Antivirus Free' or similar Bitdefender free product entries.Affected if Bitdefender Antivirus Free appears in the installed programs list
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Determine the installed version of Bitdefender Antivirus FreeIn Programs and Features, click on Bitdefender Antivirus Free and view the version, or check the installation directory typically at C:\Program Files\Bitdefender Antivirus Free for version files. The vulnerable version is any build prior to 1.0.17.Affected if The displayed version is below 1.0.17 (for example, 1.0.16.x, 1.0.15.x, etc.)
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Verify the quarantine service is activeOpen Services.msc and look for 'Bitdefender Antivirus Free' related services, or run 'Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "*Bitdefender*"}' in PowerShell.Affected if A Bitdefender Antivirus Free service is running and the version is below 1.0.17
The environment is affected if Bitdefender Antivirus Free version 2020 (below 1.0.17) is installed and running on the system.
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 data1.0.17
Upgrade Bitdefender Antivirus Free to version 1.0.17 or later which contains the patch for proper junction point validation.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8099 — 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-2020-8099 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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