Is CVE-2020-0787 in the CISA KEV catalog?

Yes. CVE-2020-0787 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list, added 2022-01-28, and has known ransomware campaign use.

What is the CVSS severity of CVE-2020-0787?

CVE-2020-0787 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (HIGH).

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-0787?

CVE-2020-0787 has an EPSS score of 42.52% (99th percentile), estimating the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix or mitigate CVE-2020-0787?

No published fix for CVE-2020-0787 has been found yet. It is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list; federal agencies must remediate by 2022-07-28. Apply the vendor's mitigations per CISA's guidance.

CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2020-0787

HIGHCISA KEVEPSS 99th pctl

7.8

CVSS v3

NVD

Description

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) improperly handles symbolic links, aka 'Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'.

CWE-59Link Following

How to fix

Actively exploited, no published fix found yet

CISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Federal remediation due: 2022-07-28

Known ransomware campaign use

Mitigation guidance may be in the linked vendor advisories in the References section below.

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CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorLocal

Attack ComplexityLow

Privileges RequiredNone

User InteractionRequired

ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploit Intelligence

42.52%probability of exploitation in 30 days

99thpercentile

Very high risk: more likely to be exploited than 99% of all known CVEs.

Known Exploited Vulnerability (CISA KEV)

Microsoft Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) Improper Privilege Management Vulnerability

Microsoft Windows BITS is vulnerable to to a privilege elevation vulnerability if it improperly handles symbolic links. An actor can exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary code with system-level privileges.

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Remediation due: 2022-07-28

Associated with ransomware campaigns

References

Patch1

portal.msrc.microsoft.com

Exploit1

packetstormsecurity.com

Government Resource1

cisa.gov

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-59 (Link Following) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVE	Severity	CVSS	EPSS	Exploited	Fix
CVE-2022-30333	High	7.5	99%	KEV + Ransom	Fix
CVE-2021-21300	High	8.0	89%	-	Fix
CVE-2021-32610	High	7.1	73%	-	Fix
CVE-2020-36193	High	7.5	71%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2023-40028	Medium	4.9	58%	-	Fix
CVE-2023-36874	High	7.8	43%	KEV	Fix

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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-10-29.