CVE-2020-8959
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 · uneditedWestern Digital WesternDigitalSSDDashboardSetup.exe before 3.0.2.0 allows DLL Hijacking.
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 confidenceThe Western Digital SSD Dashboard installer (WesternDigitalSSDMobileToolSetup.exe) before version 3.0.2.0 is vulnerable to DLL hijacking, where the application loads dynamic link libraries from an untrusted location, potentially allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code by placing a malicious DLL in a search path directory.
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< 3.0.2.0< 3.0.2.0CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Locate the Western Digital SSD Dashboard installerSearch for files named 'WesternDigitalSSDMobileToolSetup.exe', 'Sandiskssddashboardsetup.exe', or 'Westerndigitalssddashboardsetup.exe' on the system using file explorer search or Get-ChildItem -Recurse commandAffected if Any of these installer files exist with version below 3.0.2.0
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Check installed application versionOpen Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or use PowerShell 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' to find Western Digital SSD Dashboard and note its versionAffected if The installed application version is below 3.0.2.0
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Verify the DLL search order vulnerability contextThe vulnerability requires the installer to run and load DLLs from untrusted paths. Check if recent installer runs occurred by reviewing installer logs in %TEMP% or Windows Installer logsAffected if Installer execution history exists and the installer version could not be verified as 3.0.2.0 or later
A user is affected if the Western Digital SSD Dashboard installer or installed application version is found to be below 3.0.2.0, indicating the vulnerable DLL hijacking path exists in that version.
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 data3.0.2.0
Update Western Digital SSD Dashboard to version 3.0.2.0 or later to obtain the patched installer. In enterprise environments, ensure the updated version is deployed to all affected systems.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8959 — 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-2020-8959 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data