Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2020-0618
CVE-2020-0618
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Microsoft SQL Server vulnerability
Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services contains a deserialization vulnerability allowing authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code with Report Server service account privileges.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An authenticated attacker can exploit unsafe deserialization in page request handling to achieve remote code execution within the Report Server service context. High EPSS score and active exploitation indicate significant risk despite authentication requirement.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
13 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-09-18).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.99046 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Microsoft, SQL Server. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data — weakness family: Injection.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I authenticate to SQL Server Reporting Services with valid credentials.
Business
Legitimate user accounts or compromised credentials provide initial access vector.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I craft a malicious page request containing a serialized object designed to execute code during deserialization.
Business
Application processes untrusted serialized data without proper validation.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I trigger deserialization of the malicious payload, causing arbitrary code execution.
Business
Unsafe deserialization allows attacker-controlled logic to run with service account privileges.
4
Data at risk — exfiltration narrative 4
Attacker
I execute commands and access data within the Report Server service account context.
Business
Attacker gains lateral movement capability and access to sensitive reporting data and database credentials.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05