HighCISA KEVExploited in the wildPublic exploit

Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

IdentifiersCVE-2016-0167CWE-269

CVE-2016-0167 is a local elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows Win32k kernel-mode driver. A crafted local application can trigger the flaw and cause the vulnerable kernel component to improperly grant elevated privileges. Affected platforms listed in the provided content include 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 and 1511. Microsoft refers to this issue as the "Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." The provided material does not identify the exact vulnerable function or code path within Win32k.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation allows a local user to gain elevated privileges on the affected Windows system. In practical terms, this can enable an attacker who already has code execution on the host to escape a lower-privileged context and execute with higher rights, potentially up to administrative or SYSTEM-level privileges depending on the starting context and exploit chain. This makes the vulnerability useful as a post-compromise privilege-escalation primitive and suitable for use in targeted intrusions and malware operations.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by limiting local code execution opportunities, enforcing least privilege, restricting interactive logon to trusted users, using application allowlisting, and monitoring for suspicious privilege-escalation behavior and exploitation artifacts on endpoints. Because this is a local EoP flaw, mitigation is primarily about preventing untrusted code from running on the host until patches can be applied.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the relevant Microsoft security update for CVE-2016-0167 on all affected Windows versions. Because the issue resides in the Win32k kernel-mode driver, remediation requires installing the vendor patch rather than application-level changes. Systems running unsupported Windows releases should be upgraded to supported versions that receive security updates.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

Microsoft CorporationWindows 10 1507operating_system

Microsoft CorporationWindows 10 1511operating_system

Microsoft CorporationWindows 7operating_system

Microsoft CorporationWindows 8.1operating_system

Microsoft CorporationWindows Rt 8.1operating_system

Microsoft CorporationWindows Server 2008operating_system

Microsoft CorporationWindows Server 2012operating_system

Microsoft CorporationWindows Vistaoperating_system

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

4 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

4 SOURCESView more in app

techtargetNews

Jun 20, 2024

What is zero-day vulnerability? | Definition from TechTarget

A zero-day privilege escalation vulnerability in Microsoft Windows exploited in attacks against more than 100 organizations.

mitre attackNews

Jan 24, 2026

Exploitation for Privilege Escalation, Technique T1068 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Windows local privilege escalation vulnerability exploited by FIN8.

mitre attackNews

Mar 18, 2026

Exploitation for Privilege Escalation, Technique T1068 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Windows local privilege escalation vulnerability exploited by FIN8.

mitre attackNews

Mar 18, 2026

Exploitation for Privilege Escalation, Technique T1068 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Windows local privilege escalation vulnerability exploited by FIN8.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence2

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures2

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES

MITRE CVE

cve.org · CVE-2016-0167

NVD

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-0167

MITRE CWE · CWE-269

cwe.mitre.org

Patch

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-039

US Government Resource

cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2016-0167