CVE-2015-1701 — Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Overview
An unspecified vulnerability exists in the Win32k.sys kernel-mode driver in Microsoft Windows Server that allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
Vulnerability details
- CVE ID
- CVE-2015-1701
- Vulnerability
- Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Affected products
- Microsoft: Win32k
- Severity
- HIGH
- Exploitation status
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA KEV)
- Published
- 2022-03-03
Remediation guidance
CVE-2015-1701 is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog — U.S. federal civilian agencies are required to remediate it under Binding Operational Directive 22-01. Treat it as a priority for every environment.
Apply the vendor's official security update for Microsoft the affected product as soon as possible. Where a patch is unavailable, apply vendor mitigations or isolate/segment exposed systems.
Hunt for indicators of compromise tied to this vulnerability and confirm logging/EDR coverage on affected assets.
Authoritative references
Remediate CVE-2015-1701 — and stay ahead of the next one
CVE-2015-1701 is listed in the CISA KEV catalog as actively exploited — treat remediation as urgent. Scan your domain free to see whether CVE-2015-1701 and other Microsoft issues affect you and get a prioritized remediation report (full report from ₹999) — or stream the full feed of 1,600+ actively-exploited CVEs straight into your SOC.
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