CVE-2018-8440
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows improperly handles calls to Advanced Local Procedure Call (ALPC), aka "Windows…
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 18.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 2.7% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 28 Mar 2022
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows improperly handles calls to Advanced Local Procedure Call (ALPC), aka "Windows ALPC Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 10, Windows 10 Servers.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Microsoft Windows Privilege Escalation Vulnerability.
- Added
- 28 Mar 2022
- Fix due (US federal)
- 18 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 28 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 for it. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits1
Metasploit modules1 module
- Microsoft Windows ALPC Task Scheduler Local Privilege Elevation (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/windows/local/alpc_taskschedulerRank normaldisclosed 27 Aug 2018
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
- 6 months later
· 6 months 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 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 18.5% · top 2.7% of all CVEs (9 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 7.8.
Affected products
- affected 32-bit Systems Service Pack 1
- affected x64-based Systems Service Pack 1
Microsoft · Windows Server 2012 R2
- affected (Server Core installation)
- affected Windows RT 8.1
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)
Microsoft · Windows Server 2012
- affected (Server Core installation)
- affected 32-bit systems
- affected x64-based systems
Microsoft · Windows Server 2016
- affected (Server Core installation)
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)
- affected 32-bit Systems
- affected Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems
- affected Version 1607 for x64-based Systems
- affected Version 1703 for 32-bit Systems
- affected Version 1703 for x64-based Systems
- affected Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems
- affected Version 1709 for x64-based Systems
- affected Version 1803 for 32-bit Systems
- affected Version 1803 for x64-based Systems
- affected x64-based Systems
Microsoft · Windows 10 Servers
- affected version 1709 (Server Core Installation)
- affected version 1803 (Server Core Installation)
References
6
- https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2018-8440 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://blog.0patch.com/2018/09/comparing-our-micropatch-with.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://blog.0patch.com/2018/08/how-we-micropatched-publicly-dropped.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 1041578 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- 105153 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-8440 (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-2018-20076 (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-2018-8440)Record last updated .