CVE-2018-8453

Exp

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 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 10, Windows 10 Servers.

Published: 2018-10-10 Last update: 2025-10-28 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-8453 is rated Critical Active Threat (86/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 73.11%, 99th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2022-01-21) affecting Microsoft / Win32k. 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-2018-8453

Name: Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2022-01-21

Action due: 2022-07-21

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2018-8453

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
47134 exploit_db edb 2019-07-17 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-8453

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 2026-06-15 81.33% 73.11% -8.22%
2 2026-04-01 80.44% 81.33% +0.88%
3 2026-03-29 — 80.44% —

Full EPSS history (60 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-8453

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-8453

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-8453

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft windows_10_1507 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1507:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_10_1607 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1607:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_10_1703 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1703:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_10_1709 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1709:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_10_1803 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1803:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_10_1809 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_10_1809:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_7 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_7:-:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_8.1 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_8.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_rt_8.1 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_rt_8.1:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_1709 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_1709:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_1803 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_1803:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2012 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2012 r2 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2012:r2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2016 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2016:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_server_2019 — cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2019:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-8453

cvelogic Threat Intelligence