CVE-2020-9668
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 · uneditedAdobe Genuine Service version 6.6 (and earlier) is affected by an Improper Access control vulnerability when handling symbolic links. An unauthenticated attacker could exploit this to elevate privileges in the context of the current user.
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 confidenceAdobe Genuine Service versions 6.6 and earlier contain an improper access control vulnerability in symlink handling. An unauthenticated attacker can create or manipulate symbolic links to bypass access controls and elevate privileges to the current user context.
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<= 6.6CVSS 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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Check if Adobe Genuine Service is installedOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product' in PowerShell, and look for 'Adobe Genuine Service' in the installed programs list.Affected if Adobe Genuine Service appears in the installed programs list.
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Determine the installed version of Adobe Genuine ServiceNavigate to the Adobe Genuine Service installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Genuine Service\) and locate the executable (AGSService.exe or similar). Right-click the executable, select Properties, and check the Version tab. Alternatively, run 'Get-Item "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Genuine Service\*.*" | Select-Object Name, Version' in PowerShell.Affected if The displayed version is 6.6 or earlier.
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Verify the service statusOpen Services (services.msc) and locate 'Adobe Genuine Service', or run 'Get-Service -Name *Genuine*' in PowerShell to check if the service is installed and running.Affected if The Adobe Genuine Service is installed and running on the system.
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Confirm symlink vulnerability applies to your configurationThe vulnerability is present in the symlink handling logic of the service. If Adobe Genuine Service version 6.6 or earlier is installed and the service has write access to directories used for its operations, an attacker with local access could manipulate symbolic links to elevate privileges.Affected if Adobe Genuine Service version 6.6 or earlier is installed, regardless of whether the service is currently running (exploitation requires the service to be present on the system).
You are affected if Adobe Genuine Service is installed on your system and the installed version is 6.6 or earlier.
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 dataUpgrade Adobe Genuine Service to a version newer than 6.6. Until the update is applied, consider disabling the Adobe Genuine Service if business operations permit, or implement application whitelisting to restrict symlink creation in service directories.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-9668 — 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-2020-9668 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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