CVE-2020-16853
OneDrive for Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the OneDrive for Windows Desktop application improperly handles symbolic links. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could overwrite a targeted file with an elevated status.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and delete a targeted file with an elevated status.</p> <p>The update addresses this vulnerability by correcting where the OneDrive updater performs file writes while running with elevation.</p>
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
OneDrive for Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the OneDrive for Windows Desktop application improperly handles symbolic links. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could overwrite a targeted file with an elevated status.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and delete a targeted file with an elevated status.</p> <p>The update addresses this vulnerability by correcting where the OneDrive updater performs file writes while running with elevation.</p>
- Record
CVE-2020-16853- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C - Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-8811
<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the OneDrive for Windows Desktop application improperly handles symbolic links. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could overwrite a targeted file with an elevated status.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and delete a targeted file with an elevated status.</p> <p>The update addresses this vulnerability by correcting where the OneDrive updater performs file writes while running with elevation.</p>
- Record
EUVD-2020-8811- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-3jv8-5f69-qhfw
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the OneDrive for Windows Desktop application...
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the OneDrive for Windows Desktop application improperly handles symbolic links, aka 'OneDrive for Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2020-16851, CVE-2020-16852.
- Record
GHSA-3jv8-5f69-qhfw- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the OneDrive for Windows Desktop application improperly handles symbolic links. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could overwrite a targeted file with an elevated status.</p> <p>To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and delete a targeted file with an elevated status.</p> <p>The update addresses this vulnerability by correcting where the OneDrive updater performs file writes while running with elevation.</p>
- Record
CVE-2020-16853- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H - CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - CVSS 2.0
- 3.6 Low
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-16853 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.1) in Microsoft Onedrive, published September 11, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.99%, the 62nd percentile. No source names a fixed version.