How severe is CVE-2018-8120?

CVE-2018-8120 has a CVSS score of 7/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2018-8120?

Affected package information for CVE-2018-8120 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2018-8120?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2018-8120 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-2018-8120 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 17 known exploit references for CVE-2018-8120, including 1 documented proof-of-concept exploit on Exploit-DB and 11 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-2018-8120?

CVE-2018-8120 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 94.2%, 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-2018-8120 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2018-8120 (Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2022-03-15. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2022-04-05. 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.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2018-8120?

CVE-2018-8120 is classified as CWE-404 (CWE-404). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

Which products and versions are affected by CVE-2018-8120?

CVE-2018-8120 affects microsoft windows 7; microsoft windows server 2008 (1 version, e.g. r2). Check the affected-products list on this page against your deployed version to confirm exposure.

When was CVE-2018-8120 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2018-8120 was published on May 9, 2018 and was last updated on October 28, 2025. 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 2022-03-15 — agencies required to remediate by 2022-04-05 · Ransomware

CVE-2018-8120

HIGH

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…

Published

May 9, 2018

Updated

Oct 28, 2025

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

17 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

94.2%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

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 Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2018-8124, CVE-2018-8164, CVE-2018-8166.

Affected Products

2 products · 4 configurations

windows 7microsoft

all

windows server 2008microsoft

1 version

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-45653localwindows✓ Verified

Microsoft Windows - SetImeInfoEx Win32k NULL Pointer Dereference (Metasploit)

by Metasploit · Oct 22, 2018

Exploit-DB Source

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2018-8120 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2018-8120 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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CVSS Score

7/10

CVSS v3 base score

Vector breakdown

AV:Attack Vector

Local

AC:Attack Complexity

High

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:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE Classification

CWE-404CWE-404

Weaponization

No known public exploit tooling found.

Timeline

Disclosed

May 9, 2018

First exploit

Oct 22, 2018

KEV added

Mar 15, 2022

Last updated

Oct 28, 2025

Identifiers

CVE-2018-8120

References

Advisorysecurityfocus.com Advisorysecuritytracker.com Advisorysecurityfocus.com Advisorysecuritytracker.com Fixportal.msrc.microsoft.com Fixportal.msrc.microsoft.com Exploit / PoCexploit-db.com Exploit / PoCexploit-db.com Webcisa.gov

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