CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-13386 — Smartdraw Smartdraw 2020 security vulnerability

High CVSS 8.2

In SmartDraw 2020 27.0.0.0, the installer gives inherited write permissions to the Authenticated Users group on the SmartDraw 2020 installation folder. Additionally, when the product is installed, two scheduled tasks are created on the machine, SDMsgUpdate (Local) and SDMsgUpdate (TE). The scheduled tasks run in the context of the user who installed the product. Both scheduled tasks attempt to run the same binary, C:\SmartDraw 2020\Messages\SDNotify.exe. The folder Messages doesn't exist by default and (by extension) neither does SDNotify.exe. Due to the weak folder permissions, these can be created by any user. A malicious actor can therefore create a malicious SDNotify.exe binary, and have it automatically run, whenever the user who installed the product logs on to the machine. The malicious SDNotify.exe could, for example, create a new local administrator account on the machine.

Severity
High
CVSS
8.2 (3.0)
Published
2020-05-27
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-732

Affected products

  • smartdraw / smartdraw_2020 / 27.0.0.0

Matched remediation archetype

Privilege escalation and unsafe privilege management

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Map service accounts, operating-system identities, roles, capabilities, impersonation, set-user transitions, and administrative helper paths.
  • Determine whether untrusted users or lower-privilege processes can reach the affected transition or modify inputs it trusts.
  • Review file, socket, registry, device, job, container, and cloud-role permissions used before and after privilege changes.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the supported fix and redesign privileged operations as a minimal, authenticated, allowlisted interface.
  • Drop privileges before processing untrusted input, verify the drop succeeds, and remove unnecessary roles, capabilities, and write permissions.
  • Validate ownership and permissions at time of use and add explicit lower-to-higher privilege boundary tests.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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