CVE-2019-16784 HIGH

CVE-2019-16784: Local Privilege Escalation present only on the Windows version of PyInstaller

Vendor Pyinstaller
Product PyInstaller
Weakness CWE-250
Published January 14, 2020
Last update August 5, 2024

CVSS base score

7.0/10
Attack vector Local
Attack complexity High
Privileges required Low
User interaction None
Confidentiality High
Integrity High

CVSS vector

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

What the vulnerability does

01Description

In PyInstaller before version 3.6, only on Windows, a local privilege escalation vulnerability is present in this particular case: If a software using PyInstaller in "onefile" mode is launched by a privileged user (at least more than the current one) which have his "TempPath" resolving to a world writable directory. This is the case for example if the software is launched as a service or as a scheduled task using a system account (TempPath will be C:\Windows\Temp). In order to be exploitable the software has to be (re)started after the attacker launch the exploit program, so for a service launched at startup, a service restart is needed (e.g. after a crash or an upgrade).

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

January 14, 2020 CVE published
August 5, 2024 Record updated