How severe is CVE-2018-8581?

CVE-2018-8581 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.4 (HIGH). EPSS estimates a 27.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. It is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

CVE-2018-8581: Microsoft Exchange Server Privilege Escalation

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Microsoft Exchange Server Privilege Escalation Vulnerability is confirmed as actively exploited and is listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Added to KEV

2022-03-03

Remediation due

2022-03-17

Ransomware

Known use

Required action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.

CISA notes
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-8581

Description

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Microsoft Exchange Server, aka "Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Microsoft Exchange Server.

Severity

CVSS 3.1 · CISA7.4 HIGH

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

SSVC · CISA-ADP

Exploitationactive

Automatableno

Technical impacttotal

Exploitation Context

as of October 14, 2026

All KEV statistics→

CISA added CVE-2018-8581 to the KEV catalog 1,205 days after its CVE record was published.
It is one of 391 Microsoft entries in the CISA KEV catalog, and one of 166 added in 2022.
Its current EPSS score (27.4%) is higher than that of 40% of CISA KEV entries.

Affected Products

Vendor	Product	Affected versions
Microsoft	Microsoft Microsoft Exchange Server	2010 2013 2016 2019

References

3 Links

Vulnerability databases

Other references

https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2018-8581

Record Details

Published

2018-11-14

Last updated

2025-10-21

Assigner (CNA)

microsoft

Credited to

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CVE record data © The MITRE Corporation, used under the CVE Terms of Use. Exploited-in-the-wild data from the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (CC0). Exploit prediction scores by FIRST EPSS (first.org/epss). This site is not endorsed or certified by MITRE, NVD, CISA, or FIRST.