CVE-2016-3346
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedMicrosoft Windows 10 Gold, 1511, and 1607 does not properly enforce permissions, which allows local users to obtain Administrator access via a crafted DLL, aka "Windows Permissions Enforcement Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability."
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Windows 10 (Gold, 1511, and 1607 versions) where the OS fails to properly enforce DLL loading permissions. An unprivileged local user can place a crafted malicious DLL in a specific location, which Windows then loads with administrator-level privileges, granting the attacker elevated (Administrator) access.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE dataall versions= 1511= 1607CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed Windows 10 versionRun 'winver' from the command prompt or check System Properties to see the Windows 10 build number and version (such as 1511 or 1607)Affected if The system is running Windows 10 and the version is 1511 or 1607, or any version prior to the security update MS16-101 being applied
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Determine if the system has received the MS16-101 security updateOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, then search for security update KB3178465 (or check Windows Update history for this update)Affected if The security update KB3178465 is NOT installed on the Windows 10 system
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Verify write access to known DLL search path directoriesUsing an unprivileged account, attempt to create a test file in system DLL directories such as %SystemRoot%\System32 or %SystemRoot%\Temp to confirm if low-privileged users can write to locations from which DLLs are loaded by privileged servicesAffected if Unprivileged users have write access to directories in the DLL search path that are loaded by high-privilege processes, enabling DLL hijacking
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Check for the presence of vulnerable DLL loading behaviorReview the Windows Task Scheduler and any services configured to run with elevated privileges that may load DLLs from user-writable locations without specifying an absolute pathAffected if Any privileged service or scheduled task loads DLLs from directories writable by unprivileged users, creating the condition for privilege escalation
A system is affected if it is running Windows 10 versions 1511 or 1607 (or any Windows 10 version prior to MS16-101) AND the security update KB3178465 has not been installed AND unprivileged users can write to directories used in the DLL search path by elevated services.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply the relevant Microsoft security update (MS16-101) to affected Windows 10 systems to correct the DLL loading permission enforcement.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-3346 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-3346 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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