Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2016-0040
CVE-2016-0040
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Microsoft Windows vulnerability
A kernel privilege escalation vulnerability in Microsoft Windows allows local users to gain elevated privileges through a crafted application.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
This kernel vulnerability enables local privilege escalation with high exploitability (EPSS 0.77). Attackers with local access can execute arbitrary code with system privileges, bypassing access controls.
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
1 independent public report 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 2022-03-28).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.24554 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Microsoft, Windows. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-264 Permissions/Privileges/Access Control — weakness family: Authorization / access control.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 craft a malicious application that exploits kernel memory handling to escalate my privileges from user to system level.
Business
An attacker gains administrative control over individual workstations, enabling lateral movement and data exfiltration across the enterprise.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I execute my exploit locally to bypass Windows security boundaries and obtain kernel-level code execution.
Business
Compromised systems become persistent footholds for attackers to install backdoors, malware, or conduct further attacks on network infrastructure.
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