CVE-2016-7255

Exploitation

Exploited in the wild. Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2021-11-03. Federal remediation due 2022-05-03. Known ransomware campaign use: reported by CISA.

SSVC decision

• ExploitationactiveCISA reports credible evidence of active exploitation.
• AutomatablenoAt least one step from reconnaissance to exploitation cannot be reliably automated.
• Technical ImpacttotalSuccessful exploitation gives total control of the vulnerable component.

CISA publishes the decision points, not a final SSVC decision. The decision also depends on mission and well-being impact, which is a property of your deployment rather than of the vulnerability.

EPSS probability

80.96% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.

EPSS percentile

Equal to or higher than the score of 99.5% of scored records. A rank, not a probability.

NVD base score

7.8 (CVSS v3.x), scored by the NVD independently of the CNA.

NVD CVSS vector

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

NVD analysis status

Analyzed. NVD last modified this record on 2026-09-10.

Red Hat severity

No Red Hat rating. Red Hat rates the CVEs that affect its products.

Exploit-prediction scores from FIRST. Independent scoring and analysis status from the NVD. Vendor severity from Red Hat. Exploitation assessment and catalog membership from CISA.

Published

2016-11-10 06:16Z9 YR AGO

Last updated

2026-09-10 03:55Z1 MO AGO

Reserved

2016-09-09

Assigning CNA

microsoft

Record state

PUBLISHED

Severity

High (CVSS 7.8)

CNA CVSS vector

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

Weaknesses

No CWE assigned

Data version

5.2

Document digest

3235f2767ec23a508fd4c77a84824d7015d6a52b419a79c75330b28463185d9a

• packetstormsecurity.comhttp://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140468/Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-win32k.sys-NtSetWindowLongPtr-Privilege-Escalation.htmlx_refsource_MISC
• github.comhttps://github.com/mwrlabs/CVE-2016-7255x_refsource_MISC
• www.exploit-db.com40823https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40823/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• www.exploit-db.com41015https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41015/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• securingtomorrow.mcafee.comhttps://securingtomorrow.mcafee.com/mcafee-labs/digging-windows-kernel-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-cve-2016-7255/x_refsource_MISC
• www.exploit-db.com40745https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40745/exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB
• www.securitytracker.com1037251http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037251vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACK
• docs.microsoft.comMS16-135https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-135vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MS
• blog.trendmicro.comhttp://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/one-bit-rule-system-analyzing-cve-2016-7255-exploit-wild/x_refsource_MISC
• www.securityfocus.com94064http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94064vdb-entryx_refsource_BID
• security.googleblog.comhttps://security.googleblog.com/2016/10/disclosing-vulnerabilities-to-protect.htmlx_refsource_MISC
• www.cisa.govhttps://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2016-7255government-resource