Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2020-1472

Netlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Microsoft / Windows Server version 2004 · affected before publication

Watch CVE-2020-1472 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 5.5 · Medium
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
99.4%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2020-1472 is Netlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability affecting Microsoft Windows Server version 2004 and 15 other products. An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when an attacker establishes a...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed. Listed in CISA KEV. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

Microsoft / Windows Server version 2004 affected before publication.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Netlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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.

Microsoft Affected
Windows Server version 2004
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2019
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation)
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation)
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2016
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation)
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2012
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2012 R2
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)
Before publication
Microsoft Affected
Windows Server version 20H2
Before publication
View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
17 Aug 2020
Exploitation Reported
03 Nov 2021
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None

Tags

malware cisa windows ransomware microsoft

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 03 Nov 2021

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Used in malware

CISA

Recorded 03 Nov 2021

Malware families have been linked to exploitation of this CVE.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian 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

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Scanner coverage

No scanner integrations recorded yet.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

No detection artifacts or sensor request patterns are available for this CVE yet.

Check back as sensor telemetry and scanner integrations are updated.

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

5.5 Medium

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

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

EPSS

99.4%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Recent mention · SOCRadar

INC and The Gentlemen Ransomware: Exposed AI Infrastructure

SOCRadar Threat Research Unit (STRU) has uncovered an AI-driven intrusion ecosystem run by affiliates of the INC Ransomware and The Gentlemen Ransomware groups. A single publicly accessible command-and-control server exposed the operators’ AI session databases, their central...

Read full advisory

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 5.5 Medium

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

CVSS v2.0 9.3 High

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

All Mentions

Recent mention · SOCRadar

INC and The Gentlemen Ransomware: Exposed AI Infrastructure

SOCRadar · 20 Oct 2026

SOCRadar Threat Research Unit (STRU) has uncovered an AI-driven intrusion ecosystem run by affiliates of the INC Ransomware and The Gentlemen Ransomware groups. A single publicly accessible command-and-control server exposed the operators’ AI session databases, their central knowledge base and the source code of Phantom, a new “Autonomous Red Team Kill Chain Framework”. Configuration files, […]

Recent mention · SOCRadar

Berlin Data Leak: What Rhysida Published, and What Is Still Unresolved

SOCRadar · 22 Sep 2026

Berlin Data Leak: What Rhysida Published, and What Is Still Unresolved This post consolidates what has been confirmed by the State of Berlin, what remains the threat actor's own claim, and what the published file listing

Recent mention · Cisco Talos Blog

Ransomware incidents in Japan in the first half of 2026: Investigation of The Gentlemen’s infrastructure and evidence of Qilin's AI use

Cisco Talos Blog · 17 Sep 2026

Ransomware incidents in Japan rose 4.7% year over year. The Gentlemen was the most active group, with leak-site listings more than doubling from January to July. Qilin ranked second and appeared to use AI, while SMEs with capital under JPY 1 billion represented 80% of victims.

Recent mention · RecordedFuture

August 2026 CVE Landscape

RecordedFuture · 08 Sep 2026

In August 2026, Insikt Group® identified 73 high-impact vulnerabilities that should be prioritized for remediation, 43 of which had a Very Critical Recorded Future Risk Score. This represents a 14% decrease from last month.

Recent mention · Tenable Blog

Inside the customer environment: Where threat actors, vulnerabilities, and exposed assets intersect

Tenable Blog · 27 May 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...

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 14:21 UTC

    KEV confirmed by Tenable Blog

    Exploitation attested by an external source

  2. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  3. 00:00 UTC

    First public exploitation report

    Exploit observed in malware

  4. 19:13 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  5. 00:00 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

Start 14-day Pro trial Read API docs
  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2020-1472

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2020-1472",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 5.5,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.99389,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}