Vulnerability report

Trusted Third Party Report Confirmed Confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2016-7255

Windows

Microsoft / Windows

Watch CVE-2016-7255 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 7.8 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Trusted Third Party Report
EPSS
81.0%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2016-7255 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting Microsoft Windows.

Have exploitation attempts been observed?

Yes. Exploitation attempts have been reported for this vulnerability. Previdian lists it as a known exploited vulnerability. Listed in CISA KEV. Also reported by third-party sources. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

Microsoft / Windows.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Windows

The kernel-mode drivers in Microsoft Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 Gold and R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows 10 Gold, 1511, and 1607, and Windows Server 2016 allow local users to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka "Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability."

View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
10 Nov 2016
Exploitation Attempts Reported
03 Nov 2021
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required

Tags

windows cisa microsoft

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Evidence of exploitation attempts

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploitation Attempts Observed in the Wild

CISA

Recorded 03 Nov 2021

A trusted third party reported exploitation attempts.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 13 Jan 2017

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
CISA First 2021-11-03 00:00 UTC
CVE 2026-09-10 04:01 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Scanner coverage

No scanner integrations recorded yet.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

No detection artifacts or sensor request patterns are available for this CVE yet.

Check back as sensor telemetry and scanner integrations are updated.

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

7.8 High

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

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

EPSS

81.0%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 7.8 High

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

CVSS v2.0 7.2 High

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

40745

cve · Created Unknown

41015

cve · Created Unknown

40823

cve · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation attempts

  1. 04:01 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  2. 04:01 UTC

    KEV confirmed by CVE

    Exploitation attempts reported by an external source

  3. 00:00 UTC

    Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  4. 06:16 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  5. 00:00 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

Start 14-day Pro trial Read API docs
  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2016-7255

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2016-7255",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.80968,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}