Link Resolution Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Bitdefender Antivirus Free (VA-8387)
A vulnerability in the improper handling of junctions in Bitdefender Antivirus Free can allow an unprivileged user to substitute a quarantined file, and restore it to a privileged location. This issue affects: Bitdefender Antivirus Free versions prior to 1.0.17.
- Published
- Apr 21, 2020
- Updated
- Jun 16, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.4% · 36th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-59
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Report tools
Action score
24
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 24 / 40 · 6.2 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.4%
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 6.2
- CNA · Bitdefender
- 7.1
- 0.9 point gap
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| bitdefender | antivirus 2020 | cpe:2.3:a:bitdefender:antivirus_2020 |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- bitdefender antivirus 2020before 1.0.17
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Bitdefender). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
Bitdefender Antivirus Free
- unspecified and later · before 1.0.17affected
Same product
bitdefender: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2020-8094Untrusted Search Path Vulnerability in Bitdefender Antivirus Free 2020 (VA-8422)35Monitor
- CVE-2019-15295An Untrusted Search Path vulnerability in the ServiceInstance.dll library versions 1.0.15.119 and lower, as used in Bitdefender Antivirus Fr31Monitor
- CVE-2020-8103Link Resolution Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Bitdefender Antivirus Free (VA-8604)28Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Physical access to the device is required.
- A low-privileged account is enough.
- No user action is required.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- low · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Physical
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- Low
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-59 · Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
ATT&CK techniques
- Obfuscated Files or Information: HTML SmugglingT1027.006
- Obfuscated Files or Information: Embedded PayloadsT1027.009
- Boot or Logon Autostart Execution:Shortcut ModificationT1547.009
- Hide Artifacts: Resource ForkingT1564.009
- Hijack Execution Flow: Executable Installer File Permissions WeaknessT1574.005
- Hijack Execution Flow: Services File Permissions WeaknessT1574.010
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.
References
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.