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Hitmanpro.alertApplication · Sophos

CVE-2020-9540

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 861 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 · unedited
Sophos HitmanPro.Alert before build 861 allows local elevation of privilege.

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 confidence

Sophos HitmanPro.Alert before build 861 contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability that allows a local attacker to gain elevated privileges on the affected system. This is a software-specific vulnerability in the HitmanPro.Alert endpoint protection application.

MitigationUpgrade Sophos HitmanPro.Alert to build 861 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

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
Hitmanpro.alertApplication
Affected:< 861

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify HitmanPro.Alert is installed
    Check the system for HitmanPro.Alert installation via Add/Remove Programs, program files directory, or running 'Get-ItemProperty' against known installation paths
    Affected if The software is not found on the system (not affected)
  2. Locate the version information
    Find the version or build number of the installed HitmanPro.Alert - this may be visible in the program UI, in the program's file properties (right-click the executable > Properties > Details), or via registry keys under the installation entry
    Affected if Unable to determine version (further investigation needed)
  3. Compare build number to threshold
    Extract the build number from the version information and compare against 861
    Affected if The installed build number is less than 861 - the system is vulnerable

A system is affected only if Sophos HitmanPro.Alert is installed with a build number below 861.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 861 or later
Fixed in 861
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Sophos HitmanPro.Alert to build 861 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

Fix this in Hitmanpro.alert Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-9540 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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