CVE-2020-1472
Confirmed PUBLISHEDNetlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Recommended Action
Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.
At a Glance
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when an attacker establishes a vulnerable Netlogon secure channel connection to a domain controller, using the Netlogon Remote Protocol (MS-NRPC). An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run a specially crafted application on a device on the network. To exploit the vulnerability, an unauthenticated attacker would be required to use MS-NRPC to connect to a domain controller to obtain domain administrator access. Microsoft is addressing the vulnerability in a phased two-part rollout. These updates address the vulnerability by modifying how Netlogon handles the usage of Netlogon secure channels. For guidelines on how to manage the changes required for this vulnerability and more information on the phased rollout, see How to manage the changes in Netlogon secure channel connections associated with CVE-2020-1472 (updated September 28, 2020). When the second phase of Windows updates become available in Q1 2021, customers will be notified via a revision to this security vulnerability. If you wish to be notified when these updates are released, we recommend that you register for the security notifications mailer to be alerted of content changes to this advisory. See Microsoft Technical Security Notifications.
- CVE Published
- Aug 17, 2020
- Exploitation Reported
- Nov 03, 2021
- CVSS
- 5.5 Medium
- EPSS
- 99.5%
Affected Versions
| Vendor | Product | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft |
Windows Server version 2004
|
10.0.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2019
|
10.0.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
|
10.0.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation)
|
10.0.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation)
|
10.0.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2016
|
10.0.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)
|
10.0.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
|
6.1.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation)
|
6.0.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2012
|
6.2.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)
|
6.2.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2012 R2
|
6.3.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)
|
6.3.0 to < publication |
Affected |
| Microsoft |
Windows Server version 20H2
|
10.0.0 to < publication |
Affected |
CVE References
- USN-4510-1 usn.ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory https://usn.ubuntu.com/4510-1/
- USN-4510-2 usn.ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory https://usn.ubuntu.com/4510-2/
- FEDORA-2020-0be2776ed3 lists.fedoraproject.org · Vendor Advisory https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40list...
- openSUSE-SU-2020:1513 lists.opensuse.org · Vendor Advisory http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-09/msg00080...
- openSUSE-SU-2020:1526 lists.opensuse.org · Vendor Advisory http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-09/msg00086...
Show 12 more references
- FEDORA-2020-77c15664b0 lists.fedoraproject.org · Vendor Advisory https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40list...
- FEDORA-2020-a1d139381a lists.fedoraproject.org · Vendor Advisory https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40list...
- USN-4559-1 usn.ubuntu.com · Vendor Advisory https://usn.ubuntu.com/4559-1/
- GLSA-202012-24 security.gentoo.org · Vendor Advisory https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202012-24
- VU#490028 kb.cert.org · Third-Party Advisory https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/490028
- [oss-security] 20200917 Samba and CVE-2020-1472 ("Zerologon") openwall.com · Mailing List http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/09/17/2
- [debian-lts-announce] 20201123 [SECURITY] [DLA 2463-1] samba security update lists.debian.org · Mailing List https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/11/msg00041.html
- portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-1472 portal.msrc.microsoft.com · CVE Record https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CV...
- oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html oracle.com · CVE Record https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html
- packetstormsecurity.com/files/159190/Zerologon-Proof-Of-Concept.html packetstormsecurity.com · CVE Record http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159190/Zerologon-Proof-Of-Concep...
- synology.com/security/advisory/Synology_SA_20_21 synology.com · CVE Record https://www.synology.com/security/advisory/Synology_SA_20_21
- packetstormsecurity.com/files/160127/Zerologon-Netlogon-Privilege-Es... packetstormsecurity.com · CVE Record http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160127/Zerologon-Netlogon-Privil...
Recommended Actions
- Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.
- Check enrichment artifacts for scanner coverage and available PoCs before rolling remediation validation.
- Use the Pro API to automate enrichment, telemetry, and workflow delivery for VM, SOC, and CTI pipelines.
Known Exploited Vulnerability Sources
Catalogues that list this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability.
Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEVIntel Pro API.
Learn about Pro API access| Source | Added |
|---|---|
| CISA First | 2021-11-03 00:00 UTC |
| Tenable Blog | 2026-06-02 14:21 UTC |
No detection artifacts or sensor request patterns are available for this CVE yet.
Check back as sensor telemetry and scanner integrations are updated.
Virtual Patch
Compensating WAF rules to help reduce exposure to this CVE. Rule content and deployable vendor exports are available with KEVIntel Enterprise.
KEVIntel does not currently have a virtual patch for this CVE. When available, KEVIntel virtual patches ship as deployable ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF rules.
Enterprise feature. Virtual patch rule content and deployable vendor exports (ModSecurity, Cloudflare, AWS WAF) are available to KEVIntel Enterprise users.
CVSS Scores
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Exploitation Status
Exploited in the wild
Recorded 2021-11-03 00:00:00 UTC · CISA
Used in malware
Recorded 2021-11-03 00:00:00 UTC · CISA
Proof of concept available
Recorded 2020-09-08 08:58:37 UTC · GitHub
Recent Mentions
Tenable Blog · May 27, 2026
Tenable Research has developed a graph-based model linking 600+ threat groups to real-world customer exposures. It reveals which vulnerabilities sit at the intersection of severity, active exploitation, and organizational risk.Key takeawaysThe "patch everything" strategy is dead: Vulnerability prioritization based on exploitation risk offers a path forward. A directed graph model linking 600+ threat actors to vulnerabilities in 7,800 customer environments reveals that 68% of organizations carry at least one CVE previously exploited by a named adversary, and 321 tracked threat groups can reach at least one customer environment through an active vulnerability. Prevalence of "Elite Arsenal" CVEs requires immediate attention: The 242 "Elite Arsenal" CVEs — those meeting all three criteria of critical VPR (≥ 9), CISA KEV listing, and documented threat group exploitation — are nearly universally present across the studied customer base, with 241 of 242 actively detected. More than half are five or more years old, and 78% of the persistently exploited core are simultaneously weaponized by nation-state APTs, commodity malware operators, and ransomware gangs. Non-CVE exposures are universally dangerous: Non-CVE exposures, including misconfigurations, weak credentials, and end-of-life software, are present in virtually 100% of studied organizations, with 60% carrying at least one that maps to a tracked threat actor's preferred techniques. Preliminary modeling suggests these exposures may confer more breach risk than CVE-linked findings, yet no industry-standard scoring infrastructure exists to prioritize them.While the first two posts in this blog series documented the accelerating vulnerability flood and the widening remediation gap, today we answer the outstanding question: Where do these forces actually collide inside customer environments? Using a directed graph model that maps more than 600 tracked threat groups to vulnerabilities observed across 7,800 organizations,...
Potential Proof of Concepts
These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.
github · Created 2024-01-25 22:11:57 UTC · 2 stars
github · Created 2023-04-30 16:41:55 UTC · 2 stars
github · Created 2022-11-22 03:35:47 UTC · 0 stars
github · Created 2022-03-03 02:00:21 UTC · 0 stars
Test tool for CVE-2020-1472
github · Created 2021-04-22 18:51:09 UTC · 0 stars
github · Created 2020-12-23 08:12:21 UTC · 0 stars
github · Created 2020-10-17 00:14:08 UTC · 5 stars
C# Vulnerability Checker for CVE-2020-1472 Aka Zerologon
github · Created 2020-09-29 18:45:44 UTC · 11 stars
POC for checking multiple hosts for Zerologon vulnerability
github · Created 2020-09-26 08:31:47 UTC · 5 stars
github · Created 2020-09-24 20:05:21 UTC · 0 stars
CVE 2020-1472 Script de validación
github · Created 2020-09-19 23:15:41 UTC · 0 stars
github · Created 2020-09-18 00:02:26 UTC · 10 stars
CVE-2020-1472复现时使用的py文件整理打包
github · Created 2020-09-16 14:25:54 UTC · 0 stars
github · Created 2020-09-16 09:54:09 UTC · 1 stars
https://github.com/dirkjanm/CVE-2020-1472
github · Created 2020-09-16 09:22:30 UTC · 1 stars
[CVE-2020-1472] Netlogon Remote Protocol Call (MS-NRPC) Privilege Escalation (Zerologon)
github · Created 2020-09-16 07:25:22 UTC · 2 stars
CVE-2020-1472 - Zero Logon vulnerability Python implementation
github · Created 2020-09-16 03:54:27 UTC · 0 stars
github · Created 2020-09-15 16:10:21 UTC · 57 stars
Ladon Moudle CVE-2020-1472 Exploit 域控提权神器
github · Created 2020-09-15 14:29:24 UTC · 8 stars
PoC for Zerologon (CVE-2020-1472) - Exploit
github · Created 2020-09-14 16:57:49 UTC · 383 stars
Exploit Code for CVE-2020-1472 aka Zerologon
github · Created 2020-09-14 16:56:51 UTC · 1223 stars
PoC for Zerologon - all research credits go to Tom Tervoort of Secura
github · Created 2020-09-14 16:52:37 UTC · 38 stars
github · Created 2020-09-08 08:58:37 UTC · 1768 stars
Test tool for CVE-2020-1472
Timeline
Key exploitation, disclosure, scanner coverage, and KEV attestation events for this CVE.
-
14:21 UTC about 2 months ago14:21 UTC · about 2 months ago
KEV confirmed by Tenable Blog
Exploitation attested by an external source
-
00:00 UTC over 4 years ago00:00 UTC · over 4 years ago
Added to CISA KEV
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
-
00:00 UTC over 4 years ago00:00 UTC · over 4 years ago
First public exploitation report
Exploit observed in malware
-
08:58 UTC almost 6 years ago08:58 UTC · almost 6 years ago
Public PoC available
Public proof-of-concept code published
-
19:13 UTC almost 6 years ago19:13 UTC · almost 6 years ago
CVE published
Vulnerability disclosed publicly
-
00:00 UTC over 6 years ago00:00 UTC · over 6 years ago
CVE ID reserved
Identifier reserved by the CNA
Automate This Intelligence with the Pro API
Confidence scoring, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.
Pro API Example
GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2020-1472
{
"cve_id": "CVE-2020-1472",
"title": "Netlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability",
"affected_vendor": "Microsoft",
"affected_product": "Windows Server version 2004, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation), Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation), Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation), Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation), Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation), Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation), Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation), Windows Server version 20H2",
"affected_versions": [
{ "vendor": "...", "product": "...", "status": "affected", "display_label": "..." }
],
"confidence": "Confirmed",
"cvss_score": 5.5,
"epss_score": 0.99512,
"exploit_status": {
"exploited_in_the_wild": true,
"active_exploitation_observed": false
},
"sensor_telemetry": { "...": "Pro API fields" },
"proof_of_concepts": [ "..." ],
"scanner_integrations": [ "..." ]
}