Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2015-2546
CVE-2015-2546
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Microsoft Win32k vulnerability
A kernel-mode driver vulnerability in Microsoft Windows allows local users to escalate privileges through a crafted application, exploited in ransomware campaigns.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
CVE-2015-2546 is a local privilege escalation flaw in Win32k affecting Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability has been actively exploited in the wild and leveraged in ransomware operations, enabling attackers to gain system-level control from user-mode execution contexts.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Public proof-of-concept exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
9 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-15), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.10929 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Microsoft, Win32k. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-119 Memory Buffer Bounds Error — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I execute a malicious application on a target Windows system where I have user-level access.
Business
An attacker gains initial foothold on an endpoint through social engineering or supply chain compromise.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I craft an application that triggers the Win32k kernel-mode driver vulnerability to escalate my privileges to SYSTEM level.
Business
The organization loses endpoint integrity as the attacker obtains kernel-level control.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I deploy ransomware or additional malicious payloads with system privileges to encrypt data or establish persistence.
Business
Critical business operations are disrupted through data encryption, extortion demands, and potential data exfiltration.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05