How severe is CVE-2015-1701?

CVE-2015-1701 has a CVSS score of 7.8/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2015-1701?

Affected package information for CVE-2015-1701 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2015-1701?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2015-1701 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2015-1701 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 10 known exploit references for CVE-2015-1701, including 2 documented proof-of-concept exploits on Exploit-DB and 7 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2015-1701?

CVE-2015-1701 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 90.4%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2015-1701 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2015-1701 (Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2022-03-03. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-03-24. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. This CVE has been used in known ransomware campaigns. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2015-1701?

CVE-2015-1701 affects microsoft windows 7; microsoft windows 2003 server (1 version, e.g. r2); microsoft windows server 2008; microsoft windows vista. Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2015-1701 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2015-1701 was published on April 21, 2015 and was last updated on April 22, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2022-03-03 — agencies required to remediate by 2022-03-24 · Ransomware

CVE-2015-1701

HIGH

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…

Published

Apr 21, 2015

Updated

Apr 22, 2026

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

10 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

90.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk100th percentile0.00%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

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

4 products · 5 configurations

windows 7microsoft

all

windows 2003 servermicrosoft

1 version

windows server 2008microsoft

all

windows vistamicrosoft

all

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-37049localwindows✓ Verified

Microsoft Windows - Local Privilege Escalation (MS15-051)

by hfiref0x · May 18, 2015

Exploit-DB Source

EDB-37367localwindows✓ Verified

Microsoft Windows - ClientCopyImage Win32k (MS15-051) (Metasploit)

by Metasploit · Jun 24, 2015

Exploit-DB Source

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2015-1701 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2015-1701 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my stack How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

7.8/10

CVSS v3 base score

Vector breakdown

AV:Attack Vector

Local

AC:Attack Complexity

Low

PR:Privileges Required

Low

UI:User Interaction

None

S:Scope

Unchanged

C:Confidentiality

High

I:Integrity

High

A:Availability

High

Raw vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weaponization

No known public exploit tooling found.

Timeline

Disclosed

Apr 21, 2015

First exploit

May 18, 2015

KEV added

Mar 3, 2022

Last updated

Apr 22, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2015-1701

References

Advisoryseclists.org Advisorysecurityfocus.com Advisorysecuritytracker.com Advisoryfireeye.com Advisoryseclists.org Advisorysecurityfocus.com Advisorysecuritytracker.com Advisoryfireeye.com Fixdocs.microsoft.com Fixdocs.microsoft.com Exploit / PoCexploit-db.com Exploit / PoCexploit-db.com Exploit / PoCexploit-db.com Exploit / PoCexploit-db.com Webtwitter.com Webtwitter.com Webcisa.gov

Data from OSV.dev, enriched by O3 Security. Refreshed hourly.