CVE-2016-7255: Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Actively exploited. At least one CVE in this advisory is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog — exploitation has been observed in the wild. Treat remediation as urgent.
Microsoft Win32k kernel-mode driver fails to properly handle objects in memory which allows for privilege escalation. Successful exploitation allows an attacker to run code in kernel mode.
CSIRTS triage
- What
- Microsoft Win32k kernel-mode driver fails to properly handle objects in memory, allowing privilege escalation.
- Who is affected
- Users of Microsoft Windows with the affected Win32k driver.
- Urgency
- Remediation is critical due to active exploitation and high severity.
- Action
- Install the latest updates from Microsoft.
AI-assisted analysis generated from the source advisory — verify against the original.
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Details
Original advisory: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-7255
Exploitation outlook
EPSS (FIRST.org) estimates each CVE’s probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — here is the CSIRTS.com read on those numbers.
- Exploitation confirmedCVE-2016-7255Already exploited in the wild (CISA KEV) — the prediction phase is over. Patch now. Riskier than 99.6% of all EPSS-scored CVEs.
Referenced CVEs
| CVE | CSIRTS overview | External |
|---|---|---|
| CVE-2016-7255 | coverage & exploitation status | NVD · CVE.org |
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