CVE-2020-1048

HIGHNVD 7.87.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-24. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Weaponized
7.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictMitigate this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • Public exploit code is available (Metasploit, epss top5pct, public exploit)
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 16%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: Metasploit · epss top5pct · public exploitExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is referenced (a reference tagged "Patch", often a source commit), but no release containing it is confirmed — find the release that contains it; until it is applied, mitigate (WAF / firewall / segmentation).

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Print Spooler service improperly allows arbitrary writing to the file system. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code with elevated system privileges. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would have to log on to an affected system and run a specially crafted script or application. The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the Windows Print Spooler Component writes to the file system.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
7.8HIGHmedium confidence
EG Risk
66
EG Risk 66/100CISA SSVC

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity78% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
CISA SSVC: Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* or Attend at high (mission-essential systems).
Action: A fix is referenced, but no release containing it is confirmed. Check the referenced fix and the vendor's advisory for a release that contains it and apply that within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high; until then, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation.
EPSS PROB
16%
EPSS %ILE
96th
KEV
Not listed

CISA SSVCTrack at low or medium mission impact; Track* or Attend at high (mission-essential systems).

A fix is referenced, but no release containing it is confirmed. Check the referenced fix and the vendor's advisory for a release that contains it and apply that within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high; until then, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation.

Exploitation public PoC (EG-KEV: weaponized) · Automatable unknown (not published for this CVE) · Technical impact partial (CVSS below 9.0). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table

Published

May 21, 2020

Last Modified

August 19, 2026

Advisory Details (1)

Auto-updated Aug 19, 2026
Fix referenced — no release confirmed yet. Sources: microsoft.
microsoftMentions a patch (unverified)

Security Update Guide - Microsoft Security Response Center

Security Update Guide - Microsoft Security Response Center. Patch available via Microsoft Security Update

https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2020-1048

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2020-1048(2)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 29× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 151 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-10-09 20:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-10-08 16:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-10-07 23:44 UTCEPSS rescore
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  10. 2026-09-30 10:31 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-09-27 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-09-12 14:56 UTCEPSS rescore
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  18. 2026-08-20 22:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-19 18:12 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-08-19 18:12 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-08-19 18:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-08-19 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
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  44. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-07-23 01:48 UTCEG score recompute
  47. 2026-07-22 22:32 UTCEG score recompute
  48. 2026-07-22 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
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  53. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
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  67. 2026-07-09 19:07 UTCEPSS rescore
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  71. 2026-07-06 16:25 UTCEPSS rescore
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  73. 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  74. 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  75. 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(4 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (3 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Metasploitexploit/windows/local/cve_2020_1048_printerdemon✓ verified
    First seen Nov 4, 2019

    Microsoft Spooler Local Privilege Elevation Vulnerability

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCKen-Abruzzi/CVE-2020-1048
    First seen Sep 21, 2020

    An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Print Spooler service improperly allows arbitrary writing to the file system, aka 'Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'.

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCshubham0d/CVE-2020-1048
    First seen Jun 23, 2020

    POC exploit code for CVE-2020-1048(PrintDemon)

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCzveriu/CVE-2009-0229-PoC
    First seen May 14, 2020

    PoC for CVE-2009-0229 "Print Spooler Read File Vulnerability" LPE AFR (related to CVE-2020-1048)

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2020-1048?
CVE-2020-1048 is a high vulnerability published on May 21, 2020. An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Print Spooler service improperly allows arbitrary writing to the file system. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code with elevated system privileges. An attacker could then install programs;…
When was CVE-2020-1048 disclosed?
CVE-2020-1048 was first published on May 21, 2020, with the most recent update on August 19, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2020-1048 actively exploited?
CVE-2020-1048 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. EchelonGraph's EG-KEV model classifies it as weaponized: a functional public exploit exists. FIRST EPSS estimates a 16% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (96th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-1048?
CVE-2020-1048 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2020-1048?
A fix for CVE-2020-1048 is referenced (a reference tagged "Patch", often a source commit), but EchelonGraph has no release containing it on record. Check that reference and the vendor's advisory for a release that contains the fix and update to it; until then, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2020-1048 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

Dependency Blast Radius

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