Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2011-0087 is a Windows kernel driver flaw that could let someone already able to run a program on an affected machine gain higher privileges. The business risk is mainly legacy Windows exposure: compromised local accounts or malware could become more powerful on old systems.
Executive priority
Treat this as a legacy-platform privilege escalation risk. It is most urgent where old Windows machines support critical services, shared user access, or weak malware controls.
Technical view
The issue is in win32k.sys kernel-mode drivers and involves insufficient validation of user-mode input. A crafted local application can trigger privilege escalation on listed Windows XP, Server 2003, Vista, and Server 2008 versions. The provided sources do not include CVSS details.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on legacy Windows XP SP2/SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Vista SP1/SP2, and Server 2008 Gold/SP2 systems that lack the Microsoft MS11-012 update or remain unsupported.
Exploitation context
The source bundle describes local privilege escalation through a crafted application. It does not support remote exploitation claims, and KEV is false, so active exploitation should not be assumed from these sources.
Researcher notes
Evidence is strongest for affected platforms, component, and local privilege-escalation impact. Severity scoring, exploit maturity, and detailed patch mechanics are incomplete in the provided bundle; defer to MS11-012 and OVAL content for implementation checks.
Mitigation direction
- Review Microsoft MS11-012 and apply the relevant security update where applicable.
- Prioritize retirement or isolation of unsupported affected Windows systems.
- Limit local code execution paths on legacy hosts until remediation is confirmed.
- Verify endpoint controls cover unauthorized program execution on exposed systems.
Validation and detection
- Inventory systems for the affected Windows versions listed in the CVE description.
- Check patch records for Microsoft MS11-012 coverage on applicable hosts.
- Use the referenced OVAL definition where compatible with your scanning stack.
- Confirm legacy systems are not exposed to untrusted local users or software.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2011-0087 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:12312CVE reference · vdb-entry, signature
- MS11-012CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_MS
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.