CVE-2020-11081
osquery susceptible to DLL search order hijacking of zlib1.dll
osquery before version 4.4.0 enables a privilege escalation vulnerability. If a Window system is configured with a PATH that contains a user-writable directory then a local user may write a zlib1.dll DLL, which osquery will attempt to load. Since osquery runs with elevated privileges this enables local escalation. This is fixed in version 4.4.0.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
osquery susceptible to DLL search order hijacking of zlib1.dll
osquery before version 4.4.0 enables a privilege escalation vulnerability. If a Window system is configured with a PATH that contains a user-writable directory then a local user may write a zlib1.dll DLL, which osquery will attempt to load. Since osquery runs with elevated privileges this enables local escalation. This is fixed in version 4.4.0.
- Record
CVE-2020-11081- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-114
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-3445
osquery before version 4.4.0 enables a privilege escalation vulnerability. If a Window system is configured with a PATH that contains a user-writable directory then a local user may write a zlib1.dll DLL, which osquery will attempt to load. Since osquery runs with elevated privileges this enables local escalation. This is fixed in version 4.4.0.
- Record
EUVD-2020-3445- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
NVD
osquery before version 4.4.0 enables a privilege escalation vulnerability. If a Window system is configured with a PATH that contains a user-writable directory then a local user may write a zlib1.dll DLL, which osquery will attempt to load. Since osquery runs with elevated privileges this enables local escalation. This is fixed in version 4.4.0.
- Record
CVE-2020-11081- CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 8.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 4.4 Medium
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-114, CWE-426
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
osquery before version 4.4.0 enables a privilege escalation vulnerability. If a Window system is configured with a PATH that contains a user-writable directory then a local user may write a zlib1.dll DLL, which osquery will attempt to load. Since osquery runs with elevated privileges this enables local escalation. This is fixed in version 4.4.0.
- Record
CVE-2020-11081- CVSS 3.1
- 8.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-11081 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.3) in Linuxfoundation Osquery, published July 10, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.59%, the 48th percentile. No source names a fixed version.