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CVE-2016-3309

is CVE-2016-3309real, exploitable, or a false positive? Here's the community ground truth.

High · CVSS 7.8EPSS 20.6%CISA KEVCWE-264

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

The kernel-mode drivers in Microsoft Windows Vista SP2; Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1; Windows 7 SP1; Windows 8.1; Windows Server 2012 Gold and R2; Windows RT 8.1; and Windows 10 Gold, 1511, and 1607 allow local users to gain privileges via a crafted application, aka "Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability," a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-3308, CVE-2016-3310, and CVE-2016-3311.

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Community ground truth

Community verdict

3 verdicts
Not a real issue

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Community real-world severity: Critical (Critical 3) — CVSS base score 7.8

Practitioners rate this higher than its CVSS — treat with extra caution.

Field notes & remediation

Verdicts are the quick signal — notes are the evidence and fixes behind them.

  • 0
    Field note · Hanna BergCurated

    Microsoft Windows Kernel Privilege Escalation Vulnerability — A privilege escalation vulnerability exists when the Windows kernel fails to properly handle objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code in kernel mode. Listed in the CISA KEV catalog (added 2022-03-15) — confirmed exploited in the wild, not theoretical. It is linked to known ransomware campaigns. FIRST EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at ~21%. Treat it as real and prioritize remediation over triage.

  • 0
    Remediation · Sam WhitakerCurated

    Required action for Microsoft Windows: Apply updates per vendor instructions. CISA set a federal remediation due date of 2022-04-05. After patching, verify the vulnerable path is no longer reachable before closing the finding.

Same weaknessCWE-264.