Description
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.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1507 | 10.0.10240.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1607 | 10.0.14393.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1709 | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1803 | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1809 | 10.0.17763.0 – < publication, 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 10 Version 1909 | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 7 | 6.1.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 7 Service Pack 1 | 6.1.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows 8.1 | 6.3.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 | 6.1.7601.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation) | 6.1.7601.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 | 6.0.6003.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation) | 6.0.6003.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2012 | 6.2.9200.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation) | 6.2.9200.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2012 R2 | 6.3.9600.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation) | 6.3.9600.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2016 | 10.0.14393.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation) | 10.0.14393.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2019 | 10.0.17763.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation) | 10.0.17763.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server, version 1803 (Server Core Installation) | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server, version 1903 (Server Core installation) | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
| Microsoft | Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation) | 10.0.0 – < publication | publication |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Metasploit 1 module
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Microsoft Spooler Local Privilege Elevation Vulnerability
exploit/windows/local/cve_2020_1048_printerdemon
GitHub 5 repositories
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shubham0d/CVE-2020-1048 ★ 12 · Jun 23, 2020
POC exploit code for CVE-2020-1048(PrintDemon)
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zveriu/CVE-2009-0229-PoC ★ 3 · May 14, 2020
PoC for CVE-2009-0229 "Print Spooler Read File Vulnerability" LPE AFR (related to CVE-2020-1048)
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Ken-Abruzzi/CVE-2020-1048 ★ 2 · 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 Vulnera…
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talsim/printDemon2system ★ 1 · Jun 23, 2025
PrintDemon (CVE-2020-1048) Privilege Escalation
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Y3A/cve-2020-1048 ★ 0 · Jun 30, 2023
spoolsv.exe arb file write poc
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
References
- Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability vendor-advisory patch