CVE-2018-8581
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Microsoft Exchange Server, aka "Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege…
- 7.4HighCVSS base score
- 27.6%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 1.9% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 3 Mar 2022
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Microsoft Exchange Server, aka "Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Microsoft Exchange Server.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Microsoft Exchange Server Privilege Escalation Vulnerability.
- Added
- 3 Mar 2022
- Fix due (US federal)
- 17 Mar 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 3 Mar 2022.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Timeline
ID reserved
By microsoft
- 8 months later
· 8 months later
Published
- 3 years later
· 3 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 | High7.4 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.4 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 27.6% · top 1.9% 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 7.4.
Affected products
Microsoft · Microsoft Exchange Server
- affected 2010
- affected 2013
- affected 2016
- affected 2019
References
4
- 1042141 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- 105837 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2018-8581 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-8581 (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-2018-20198 (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-2018-8581)Record last updated .