CVE-2018-8639
Actively exploited. CVE-2018-8639 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2025-03-03) — exploitation has been observed in the wild, and US federal agencies are required to remediate it under BOD 22-01. Treat patching as urgent.
Public exploit code is available. Proof-of-concept or working exploit code for CVE-2018-8639 is indexed in GitHub PoC. Expect opportunistic scanning and exploitation attempts — prioritize remediation.
Microsoft Windows Win32k contains an improper resource shutdown or release vulnerability that allows for local, authenticated privilege escalation. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code in kernel mode.
CSIRTS triage
- What
- An improper resource shutdown or release vulnerability allows for local privilege escalation to run arbitrary code in kernel mode.
- Who is affected
- Authenticated users on Microsoft Windows systems with the Win32k component.
- Urgency
- Remediation is urgent due to active exploitation and critical severity.
- Action
- Install the latest security updates from Microsoft.
AI-assisted analysis generated from the source advisory — verify against the original.
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Exploitation outlook
- Exploitation confirmedAlready exploited in the wild (CISA KEV) — the prediction phase is over. Patch now. Riskier than 97% of all EPSS-scored CVEs.
Exploit availability
Public exploit or proof-of-concept code for CVE-2018-8639 is indexed in these free datasets. Available exploit code raises real-world risk independent of the CVSS score.
- GitHub PoCPublic proof-of-concept repositories on GitHub reference this CVE.look it up ↗
Advisory coverage (1)
- criticalexploitedCVE-2018-8639: Microsoft Windows Win32k Improper Resource Shutdown or Release Vulnerabilitycisa-kev · 2025-03-03
External references
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[](https://www.csirts.com/cve/CVE-2018-8639)