CVE-2018-8174

CRITICALNVD 7.59.0
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

“▲” beside the score: it is higher than NVD's CVSS score.

Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-02-15), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 7.5 retained for reference. The 9.0 is the floor for confirmed exploitation, not an impact rating: this CVE's impact severity (EG Severity) is CVSS 7.5 HIGH under GitHub Security Advisory CVSS. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, EPSS, GitHub Security Advisory, NVD CVSS v3
Trending — 4 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild
9.0EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV) — the reason this is sooner than the SSVC decision on this page at low or medium mission impact
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS PROB: 88%CVSS: 7.5Exploit: Public PoCExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that the VBScript engine handles objects in memory, aka "Windows VBScript Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability." This affects Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 10, Windows 10 Servers.

CVSS v3
7.5
EG Score
9.0CRITICALhigh confidence
EG Risk
74
EG Risk 74/100

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.

How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)
Severity75% × 45%
Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 7.5 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.
Exploitation100% × 40%
Fixed at 100% for a CISA KEV listing: EchelonGraph's rule.
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Attend at medium and Act at high mission impact.
Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low, sooner than that at medium and as soon as possible at high mission impact.
EPSS PROB
88%
EPSS %ILE
99th
KEV
⚠ Exploited

What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)

The EG score (9.0): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.0 is the CISA KEV floor for confirmed exploitation, not an impact rating: its impact severity (EG Severity) is CVSS 7.5 HIGH.

EG Severity
7.5 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
EG Likelihood
88% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-22). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
Confirmed exploitation
CISA KEV and EG-KEV Tier 1 (exploited in the wild)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
EG Priority
SSVC Attend at medium mission impactTrack at low, Attend at medium and Act at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.

SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Attend at medium and Act at high mission impact.

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low, sooner than that at medium and as soon as possible at high mission impact.

Exploitation active (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table

BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)3 days & forensic triage if the affected system is publicly exposed; 14 days if it is not.

In CISA KEV yes (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it

CISA required action“Apply updates per vendor instructions.”

Quoted verbatim from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. CISA directs it at US federal civilian executive branch agencies under Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 26-04, which replaced BOD 22-01 on 10 June 2026; it is not EchelonGraph's advice. CISA's notes: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-8174

Published

May 9, 2018

Last Modified

August 13, 2026

Advisory Details (5)

Auto-updated Oct 19, 2026
⚠️ Actively exploited (CISA KEV, CISA Vulnrichment). Patch available. Sources: microsoft, cisa.
CISA🔴 Active Exploitation

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA

Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog | CISA. Listed in CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-8174
Web page

Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 (Windows 7 x86/x64) - vbscript Code Execution - Windows local Exploit

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44741/
Microsoft

Security Update Guide - Microsoft Security Response Center

https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2018-8174
Web page

Windows Updates Broke Your Networking? Free Micropatches To The Rescue (CVE-2018-8174)

https://blog.0patch.com/2018/05/a-single-instruction-micropatch-for.html
Web page

CVE-2018-8174 - PSIRT.COM

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103998

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2018-8174(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 24× in last 7d / 253× in last 30d)

Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 1,547 refreshes on record for this CVE.

A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. None are among the latest 100 rows. The 1,447 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.

  1. 2026-10-22 22:46 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-10-22 22:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  3. 2026-10-21 23:23 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-10-21 23:23 UTCVendor advisory
  5. 2026-10-21 23:23 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  6. 2026-10-21 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
  7. 2026-10-20 23:58 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-10-20 23:58 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-10-20 23:58 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  10. 2026-10-20 00:34 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-10-20 00:34 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-10-20 00:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  13. 2026-10-19 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
  14. 2026-10-19 01:10 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-10-19 01:10 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-10-19 01:10 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  17. 2026-10-18 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
  18. 2026-10-18 10:01 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-10-18 01:45 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-10-18 01:45 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-10-18 01:45 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  22. 2026-10-17 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
  23. 2026-10-17 02:18 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-10-17 02:17 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  25. 2026-10-16 02:52 UTCEG score recompute
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-10-16 02:51 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  2. 2026-10-15 03:25 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-10-15 03:25 UTCVendor advisory
  4. 2026-10-15 03:25 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  5. 2026-10-14 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
  6. 2026-10-14 04:01 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-10-14 04:00 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  8. 2026-10-13 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
  9. 2026-10-13 04:36 UTCVendor advisory
  10. 2026-10-13 04:36 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  11. 2026-10-12 20:07 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-10-12 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
  13. 2026-10-12 05:12 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-10-12 05:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  15. 2026-10-12 00:44 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-10-12 00:44 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  17. 2026-10-11 20:22 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-10-11 20:22 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-10-11 20:21 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  20. 2026-10-11 15:55 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-10-11 15:55 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-10-11 15:55 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  23. 2026-10-11 13:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
  24. 2026-10-11 11:32 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-10-11 11:32 UTCVendor advisory
  26. 2026-10-11 11:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  27. 2026-10-11 07:10 UTCVendor advisory
  28. 2026-10-11 07:10 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  29. 2026-10-11 02:47 UTCVendor advisory
  30. 2026-10-11 02:47 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  31. 2026-10-10 22:25 UTCVendor advisory
  32. 2026-10-10 22:25 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  33. 2026-10-10 17:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  34. 2026-10-10 13:37 UTCVendor advisory
  35. 2026-10-10 13:36 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  36. 2026-10-10 09:14 UTCVendor advisory
  37. 2026-10-10 09:13 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  38. 2026-10-10 04:50 UTCVendor advisory
  39. 2026-10-10 04:49 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  40. 2026-10-10 00:26 UTCVendor advisory
  41. 2026-10-10 00:26 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  42. 2026-10-09 20:04 UTCVendor advisory
  43. 2026-10-09 20:04 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  44. 2026-10-09 15:42 UTCVendor advisory
  45. 2026-10-09 15:42 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  46. 2026-10-09 11:19 UTCVendor advisory
  47. 2026-10-09 11:18 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  48. 2026-10-09 06:53 UTCVendor advisory
  49. 2026-10-09 06:53 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  50. 2026-10-09 02:30 UTCVendor advisory
  51. 2026-10-09 02:30 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  52. 2026-10-08 22:08 UTCVendor advisory
  53. 2026-10-08 22:08 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  54. 2026-10-08 17:45 UTCVendor advisory
  55. 2026-10-08 17:45 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  56. 2026-10-08 13:16 UTCVendor advisory
  57. 2026-10-08 13:16 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  58. 2026-10-08 08:51 UTCVendor advisory
  59. 2026-10-08 08:51 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  60. 2026-10-08 04:28 UTCVendor advisory
  61. 2026-10-08 04:28 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  62. 2026-10-08 00:05 UTCEG score recompute
  63. 2026-10-08 00:05 UTCVendor advisory
  64. 2026-10-08 00:05 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  65. 2026-10-07 23:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 88% · 99th percentile
  66. 2026-10-07 19:43 UTCVendor advisory
  67. 2026-10-07 19:43 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  68. 2026-10-07 15:20 UTCVendor advisory
  69. 2026-10-07 15:20 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  70. 2026-10-07 10:57 UTCVendor advisory
  71. 2026-10-07 10:57 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  72. 2026-10-07 06:34 UTCVendor advisory
  73. 2026-10-07 06:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  74. 2026-10-07 02:12 UTCVendor advisory
  75. 2026-10-07 02:12 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-5cv8-848m-hmm2 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5

Publicly available exploits

(6 references)

Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Exploit-DB entry, 5 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.

  • GitHub PoCruthlezs/ie11_vbscript_exploit
    Published May 23, 2019

    Exploit Generator for CVE-2018-8174 & CVE-2019-0768 (RCE via VBScript Execution in IE11)

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCpiotrflorczyk/cve-2018-8174_analysis
    Published Jul 10, 2018

    Analysis of VBS exploit CVE-2018-8174

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCSyFi/CVE-2018-8174
    Published Jun 1, 2018

    MS Word MS WordPad via IE VBS Engine RCE

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCYt1g3r/CVE-2018-8174_EXP
    Published May 30, 2018

    CVE-2018-8174_python

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoC0x09AL/CVE-2018-8174-msf
    Published May 22, 2018

    CVE-2018-8174 - VBScript memory corruption exploit.

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-44741
    Published May 21, 2018

    Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 (Windows 7 x86/x64) - vbscript Code Execution

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2018-8174?
CVE-2018-8174 is a critical-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on May 9, 2018. A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that the VBScript engine handles objects in memory, aka "Windows VBScript Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability." This affects Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1,…
When was CVE-2018-8174 made public?
CVE-2018-8174 was made public on May 8, 2018: that is the date its CVE record's CNA, Microsoft Corporation, gives for when the vulnerability was made public. The CVE record itself was published on May 9, 2018. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of August 13, 2026; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2018-8174 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2018-8174 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on February 15, 2022, affecting Microsoft Windows. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate attention. A fix is available. Apply it.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-8174?
CVE-2018-8174 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (NVD). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.0 (CRITICAL).
Which products are affected by CVE-2018-8174?
CVE-2018-8174 affects Microsoft Windows.
How do I remediate CVE-2018-8174?
A fix for CVE-2018-8174 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2018-8174 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

Dependency Blast Radius

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2018-8174

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Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2018-8174?

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