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CVE-2016-7255

94
FAUCET Score

CVE-2016-7255 is a critical Elevation of Privilege vulnerability affecting kernel-mode drivers across numerous Microsoft Windows versions, including Vista, Windows 7, 8.1, 10, and Server editions. This vulnerability allows a local attacker to gain elevated privileges by executing a crafted application. With a CVSS score of 7.8 (High), it presents a significant risk due to its low attack complexity and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This CVE has been actively exploited in the wild, as confirmed by its presence in the KEV catalog, and has garnered substantial community discussion and media coverage, indicating its widespread recognition and potential for abuse. Exploit code is publicly available, further increasing the urgency of patching.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1507:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1511:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Range not provided by sourceCPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1607:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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
80.97%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
99.6%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-24
Model: v2026.06.15
Added to KEV · Nov 3, 2021
ExploitDB: EDB-41015 · Jan 8, 2017
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.8097 is in the 100th percentile among its peer group of 11,615 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

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 (27)

microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 10 for x64-based Systems
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 10 Version 1511 for 32-bit Systems
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems
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
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows RT 8.1
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems Service Pack 2
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems Service Pack 1
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation)
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2012
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2012 R2
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)
View patch
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 Server 2016
View patch

Vendor Advisories (1)

microsoft2016-Nov/CVE-2016-7255Important

Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Nov 8, 2016

References

cisa.gov / known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
US Government Resource
blog.trendmicro.com / trendlabs-security-intelligence/one-bit-rule-system-analyzing-cve-2016-7255-exploit-wild
Broken Link
packetstormsecurity.com / files/140468/Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-win32k.sys-NtSetWindowLongPtr-Privilege-Escalation.html
ExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
docs.microsoft.com / en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-135
PatchVendor Advisory
github.com / mwrlabs/CVE-2016-7255
ExploitThird Party Advisory
securingtomorrow.mcafee.com / mcafee-labs/digging-windows-kernel-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-cve-2016-7255
Broken Link
security.googleblog.com / 2016/10/disclosing-vulnerabilities-to-protect.html
Third Party Advisory
exploit-db.com / exploits/40745
ExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
exploit-db.com / exploits/40823
ExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
exploit-db.com / exploits/41015
ExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
securityfocus.com / bid/94064
Broken LinkThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
securitytracker.com / id/1037251
Broken LinkThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry