CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-15145 — Getcomposer Composer-Setup security vulnerability

High CVSS 8.2

In Composer-Setup for Windows before version 6.0.0, if the developer's computer is shared with other users, a local attacker may be able to exploit the following scenarios. 1. A local regular user may modify the existing `C:\ProgramData\ComposerSetup\bin\composer.bat` in order to get elevated command execution when composer is run by an administrator. 2. A local regular user may create a specially crafted dll in the `C:\ProgramData\ComposerSetup\bin` folder in order to get Local System privileges. See: https://itm4n.github.io/windows-server-netman-dll-hijacking. 3. If the directory of the php.exe selected by the user is not in the system path, it is added without checking that it is admin secured, as per Microsoft guidelines. See: https://msrc-blog.microsoft.com/2018/04/04/triaging-a-dll-planting-vulnerability.

Severity
High
CVSS
8.2 (3.1)
Published
2020-08-14
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
windows/system
Weaknesses
CWE-276

Affected products

  • getcomposer / composer-setup

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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