Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2015-1701: Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

CVE-2015-1701 · Severity: critical · CVSS 7.8 · Exploited in the wild · Published 2022-03-03

Technologies: Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Win32K, Microsoft Windows 7. Vendors: Microsoft.

Executive brief

A privilege escalation vulnerability in the Win32k.sys kernel-mode driver in Microsoft Windows allows local users to gain elevated privileges via a crafted application. The flaw stems from improper handling of objects in memory, enabling arbitrary code execution with kernel-level permissions.

Affected products

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2
  • Microsoft Windows Vista SP2
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2
  • Microsoft Windows 7 SP1

Timeline

  • 2015-04: exploited: Exploitation in the wild reported.
  • 2015-05-12: patched: Microsoft released MS15-051 to address the vulnerability.
  • 2022-03-03: kev added: Added to CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog.

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