KEV Intelligence

Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild Confirmed confidence In CISA KEV

CVE-2018-8405

Windows Server 2012 R2

Microsoft / Windows Server 2012 R2 · (Server Core installation)

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Severity
CVSS 7.8 · High
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
3.4%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2018-8405 is a vulnerability affecting Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 and 5 other products. An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the DirectX Graphics Kernel (DXGKRNL) driver improperly handles...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is confirmed.

Who is affected?

Microsoft / Windows Server 2012 R2 (server core installation).

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

Windows Server 2012 R2

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when the DirectX Graphics Kernel (DXGKRNL) driver improperly handles objects in memory, aka "DirectX Graphics Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2016, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 10 Servers.

This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2018-8400, CVE-2018-8401, CVE-2018-8406.

Vendor Product Affected Status
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation) Affected
Microsoft Windows RT 8.1 Windows RT 8.1 Affected
Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation) Affected
Microsoft Windows 8.1 32-bit systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 8.1 x64-based systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 32-bit Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1703 for 32-bit Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1703 for x64-based Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1709 for x64-based Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1803 for 32-bit Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1803 for x64-based Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 x64-based Systems Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Servers version 1709 (Server Core Installation) Affected
Microsoft Windows 10 Servers version 1803 (Server Core Installation) Affected
Published
15 Aug 2018
Exploitation Reported
28 Mar 2022
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None

Tags

cisa microsoft ransomware windows malware

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

CISA

Recorded 28 Mar 2022

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Used in malware

CISA

Recorded 28 Mar 2022

Malware families have been linked to exploitation of this CVE.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

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Source Added
CISA First 2022-03-28 00:00 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
0
User-Agents
0

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Scanner coverage

No scanner integrations recorded yet.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

No detection artifacts or sensor request patterns are available for this CVE yet.

Check back as sensor telemetry and scanner integrations are updated.

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

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

EPSS

3.4%

Weaknesses

Improper Resource Shutdown or Release CWE-404

All CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 7.8 High

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

CVSS v2.0 7.2 High

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. Added to CISA KEV

    Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

  2. First public exploitation report

    Exploit observed in malware

  3. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  4. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2018-8405

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2018-8405",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 7.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.03444,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}

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