CVE-2016-3298

Exp

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 through 11 and the Internet Messaging API in Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, and Windows 7 SP1 allow remote attackers to determine the existence of arbitrary files via a crafted web site, aka "Internet Explorer Information Disclosure Vulnerability."

Published: 2016-10-14 Last update: 2026-04-22 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-3298 is rated Critical Active Threat (83.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 28.30%, 97th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2022-05-24) affecting Microsoft / Internet Explorer. Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2016-3298

Name: Microsoft Internet Explorer Messaging API Information Disclosure Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2022-05-24

Action due: 2022-06-14

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-3298

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-02 29.20% 28.30% -0.90%
2 2026-04-23 27.73% 29.20% +1.47%
3 2025-05-26 — 27.73% —

Full EPSS history (21 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-3298

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
2.6 2.0 LOW
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 4.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-3298

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-3298

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft internet_explorer 9 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:internet_explorer:9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft internet_explorer 10 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:internet_explorer:10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft internet_explorer 11 cpe:2.3:a:microsoft:internet_explorer:11:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_7 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_7:-:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2008 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2008 r2 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:r2:sp1:*:*:*:*:itanium:*
microsoft windows_server_2008 r2 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2008:r2:sp1:*:*:*:*:x64:*
microsoft windows_vista — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_vista:-:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-3298

cvelogic Threat Intelligence