CVE-2018-8120
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows when the Win32k component fails to properly handle objects in memory, aka…
- 7.0HighCVSS base score
- 73.3%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.5% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 15 Mar 2022
- 2Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows when the Win32k component fails to properly handle objects in memory, aka "Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2018-8124, CVE-2018-8164, CVE-2018-8166.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability.
- Added
- 15 Mar 2022
- Fix due (US federal)
- 5 Apr 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 15 Mar 2022.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module and an Exploit-DB entry for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits3
Metasploit modules1 module
- Windows SetImeInfoEx Win32k NULL Pointer Dereference (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/windows/local/ms18_8120_win32k_privescRank gooddisclosed 9 May 2018
Exploit-DB1 entry
- Microsoft Windows - SetImeInfoEx Win32k NULL Pointer Dereference (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 45653local, windowspublished 22 Oct 2018Verified
References tagged exploit1 reference
- 45653 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By microsoft
- 56 days later
· 56 days later
Published
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited, also by ransomware
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 73.3% · top 0.5% of all CVEs (11 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.0.
Affected products
Microsoft · Windows Server 2008
- affected 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2
- affected 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)
- affected Itanium-Based Systems Service Pack 2
- affected x64-based Systems Service Pack 2
- affected x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)
- affected 32-bit Systems Service Pack 1
- affected x64-based Systems Service Pack 1
Microsoft · Windows Server 2008 R2
- affected Itanium-Based Systems Service Pack 1
- affected x64-based Systems Service Pack 1
- affected x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation)
References
5
- 45653 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 1040849 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- 104034 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2018-8120 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-8120 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2018-19796 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2018-8120)Record last updated .