CVE-2020-0840: 
vulnerability analysis and mitigation

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows improperly handles hard links, identified as CVE-2020-0840. This vulnerability was disclosed on March 12, 2020, and affects multiple versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems. The vulnerability is part of a group of similar issues, being unique from CVE-2020-0841, CVE-2020-0849, and CVE-2020-0896 (NVD).

The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (HIGH), with the vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. This indicates that the vulnerability requires local access, low attack complexity, and low privileges to exploit, with no user interaction needed. The potential impact affects confidentiality, integrity, and availability, all with high severity (NVD).

If successfully exploited, this vulnerability could allow an attacker to gain elevated privileges on affected systems. The attacker could potentially gain the same level of access as the local user, with the impact being more severe for users with administrative rights (NVD).

Microsoft has released security updates to address this vulnerability. The security update corrects how Windows handles hard links, effectively mitigating the vulnerability. Users are advised to apply the appropriate security updates for their affected systems (MSRC).