CVE-2020-9442

HIGH

OpenVPN Connect <3.1.0.361 - Privilege Escalation

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2020-9442. PoCs published by hessandrew.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This repository provides a detailed technical analysis of CVE-2020-9442, a privilege escalation vulnerability in OpenVPN Connect for Windows. The vulnerability arises from permissive folder permissions allowing an attacker to place a malicious DLL in a directory where it will be loaded by tapinstall.exe during installation or upgrade, leading to SYSTEM-level code execution.

Description

OpenVPN Connect 3.1.0.361 on Windows has Insecure Permissions for %PROGRAMDATA%\OpenVPN Connect\drivers\tap\amd64\win10, which allows local users to gain privileges by copying a malicious drvstore.dll there.

Exploits (1)

nomisec WRITEUP 26 stars
by hessandrew · poc
https://github.com/hessandrew/CVE-2020-9442

This repository provides a detailed technical analysis of CVE-2020-9442, a privilege escalation vulnerability in OpenVPN Connect for Windows. The vulnerability arises from permissive folder permissions allowing an attacker to place a malicious DLL in a directory where it will be loaded by tapinstall.exe during installation or upgrade, leading to SYSTEM-level code execution.

Classification
Writeup 90%
Attack Type
Lpe
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: OpenVPN Connect for Windows 3.1.0.361 (MSI)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Access to the system to place a malicious DLL in C:\ProgramData\OpenVPN Connect\drivers\tap\amd64\win10 · OpenVPN Connect installation or upgrade process to trigger the DLL load
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →

References (1)

Core 1
Core References
Exploit, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/hessandrew/CVE-2020-9442

Scores

CVSS v3 7.8
EPSS 0.0064
EPSS Percentile 46.0%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-281
Status published
Products (1)
openvpn/connect < 3.1.0.361
Published Feb 28, 2020
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026