Is CVE-2018-8120 in the CISA KEV catalog?

Yes. CVE-2018-8120 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list, added 2022-03-15, and has known ransomware campaign use.

What is the CVSS severity of CVE-2018-8120?

CVE-2018-8120 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.0 (HIGH).

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2018-8120?

CVE-2018-8120 has an EPSS score of 73.72% (99th percentile), estimating the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix or mitigate CVE-2018-8120?

No published fix for CVE-2018-8120 has been found yet. It is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list; federal agencies must remediate by 2022-04-05. Apply the vendor's mitigations per CISA's guidance.

CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2018-8120

HIGHCISA KEVEPSS 99th pctl

7.0

CVSS v3

NVD

Description

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows when the Win32k component fails to properly handle objects in memory, aka "Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2018-8124, CVE-2018-8164, CVE-2018-8166.

CWE-404

How to fix

Actively exploited, no published fix found yet

CISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Federal remediation due: 2022-04-05

Known ransomware campaign use

Mitigation guidance may be in the linked vendor advisories in the References section below.

TridentStack Control tracks known vulnerabilities across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet and shows the fix as soon as one is published. See how it works

CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorLocal

Attack ComplexityHigh

Privileges RequiredLow

User InteractionNone

ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploit Intelligence

73.72%probability of exploitation in 30 days

99thpercentile

Very high risk: more likely to be exploited than 99% of all known CVEs.

Known Exploited Vulnerability (CISA KEV)

Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in Windows when the Win32k component fails to properly handle objects in memory.

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Remediation due: 2022-04-05

Associated with ransomware campaigns

References

Patch1

portal.msrc.microsoft.com

Exploit1

exploit-db.com

Third-Party Advisory2

Government Resource1

cisa.gov

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-404 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVE	Severity	CVSS	EPSS	Exploited	Fix
CVE-2022-44267	Medium	6.5	77%	-	Fix
CVE-2018-8210	High	7.8	25%	-	-
CVE-2018-8639	High	7.8	22%	KEV + Ransom	-
CVE-2023-3206	Medium	5.3	19%	-	-
CVE-2018-8450	High	8.8	16%	-	-
CVE-2025-1103	Medium	6.5	13%	-	-

Embed a live status badge for CVE-2018-8120

Markdown

[![CVE-2018-8120](https://tridentstack.com/cve/badge/CVE-2018-8120.svg)](https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2018-8120)

HTML

<a href="https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2018-8120"><img src="https://tridentstack.com/cve/badge/CVE-2018-8120.svg" alt="CVE-2018-8120"></a>

Find and fix vulnerabilities across your fleet

TridentStack Control continuously scans your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet for known vulnerabilities, prioritizes them by severity and active exploitation, and patches them automatically.

See how it works Start freeThis CVE lookup is free and always will be.

This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-10-28.