CVE-2015-1701 — Windows 7
HIGHCVE-2015-1701 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) vulnerability in microsoft windows 7. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-03) and has been used in ransomware campaigns — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Win32k.sys in the kernel-mode drivers in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2, Vista SP2, and Server 2008 SP2 allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted application, as exploited…
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-03-03 — including use in ransomware campaigns. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-03-24.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2015-1701.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2015-1701 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
Win32k.sys in the kernel-mode drivers in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2, Vista SP2, and Server 2008 SP2 allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted application, as exploited in the wild in April 2015, aka "Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability."
Affected Products
windows 7microsoftwindows 2003 servermicrosoftwindows server 2008microsoftwindows vistamicrosoftResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Microsoft Windows - Local Privilege Escalation (MS15-051)
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Microsoft Windows - ClientCopyImage Win32k (MS15-051) (Metasploit)
by Metasploit · Jun 24, 2015
Detection & mitigation playbook
Vendor / applianceDetect
Inventory every microsoft windows 7 deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.
Remediation status
No patch has shipped for CVE-2015-1701 yet — track the microsoft windows 7 advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2015-1701 being exploited in your environment?
Detect and block the exploit chain at execution, on systems you cannot patch yet.