CVE-2020-16939: Microsoft Windows 10

High severity, CVSS 7.8. EPSS: 2.4% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Group Policy improperly checks access. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run processes in an elevated context. To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system, and then run a specially crafted application to take control over the affected system. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Group Policy checks access.

Affected products

Microsoft Windows 10: affected versions not specified; version 1607 only; version 1709 only; version 1803 only; version 1809 only; version 1903 only; …
Microsoft Windows 7: affected versions not specified
Microsoft Windows 8.1: affected versions not specified
Microsoft Windows Rt 8.1: affected versions not specified
Microsoft Windows Server 2008: affected versions not specified; version r2 only
Microsoft Windows Server 2012: affected versions not specified; version r2 only
Microsoft Windows Server 2016: affected versions not specified; version 1903 only; version 1909 only; version 2004 only
Microsoft Windows Server 2019: affected versions not specified

Published 2020-10-16. Last modified 2026-06-17.