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CVE-2016-0185

93
FAUCET Score

CVE-2016-0185 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability affecting Microsoft Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7 SP1, and Windows 8.1 through crafted Media Center link (.mcl) files. With a CVSS score of 7.8 (High), it allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system if a user opens a malicious .mcl file. This vulnerability is actively exploited in the wild, as confirmed by its presence in CISA's KEV catalog, and public exploit code is available, indicating a high risk of compromise. The vulnerability has garnered significant community attention, despite limited media coverage.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_7:-:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_8.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_vista:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.1

7.8HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.1

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
69.94%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
99.3%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-26
Model: v2026.06.15
Added to KEV · Nov 3, 2021
ExploitDB: EDB-39805 · May 12, 2016
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.6994 is in the 99th percentile among its peer group of 11,616 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.0 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (6)

microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Vista Service Pack 2
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 2
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 1
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 7 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 8.1 for 32-bit systems
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 8.1 for x64-based systems
View patch

Vendor Advisories (1)

microsoft2016-May/CVE-2016-0185Important

Windows Media Center Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

May 10, 2016

References

cisa.gov / known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
US Government Resource
docs.microsoft.com / en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-059
PatchVendor Advisory
exploit-db.com / exploits/39805
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
securityfocus.com / bid/90023
Broken LinkThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
securitytracker.com / id/1035832
Broken LinkThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
zerodayinitiative.com / advisories/ZDI-16-277
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry