CVE-2016-7222
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 · uneditedTask Scheduler in Microsoft Windows 10 Gold, 1511, and 1607 and Windows Server 2016 allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted UNC pathname in a task, aka "Task Scheduler 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 confidenceThe Task Scheduler in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 contains an elevation of privilege vulnerability where a local user can craft a UNC pathname within a scheduled task to gain higher privileges than intended. This allows a low-privileged local user to potentially execute arbitrary code with elevated (administrator) rights.
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= 1607all versionsCVSS 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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Check Windows versionRun 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to identify the Windows versionAffected if The system is Windows 10 (any version) or Windows Server 2016 (any version)
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Identify scheduled tasks with UNC pathsRun 'schtasks /query /fo LIST /v' and examine the output for tasks where 'Task to Run' or 'Start In' fields contain UNC paths (paths starting with \\ or pointing to network shares)Affected if Any scheduled task exists that references a UNC path in its command or working directory configuration
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Verify task execution contextFor each task using a UNC path identified in step 2, run 'schtasks /query /tn "TaskName" /fo LIST /v' and check if 'Run As User' is set to an administrator or SYSTEM account, or if 'Run with highest privileges' is enabledAffected if A task using a UNC path runs with elevated privileges (administrator or SYSTEM user)
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Audit task creation permissionsRun 'icacls C:\Windows\System32\Tasks' to check if non-administrative users have write permissions to the scheduled tasks folder, or check group policy at Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment for 'Create scheduled tasks'Affected if Non-administrative users have permissions to create or modify scheduled tasks on the system
A system is affected if it runs Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016 AND has scheduled tasks configured with UNC paths that execute with elevated privileges, AND low-privileged users can create or modify those tasks.
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 Microsoft security update MS16-111 which addresses this vulnerability, or restrict user permissions to prevent non-administrative users from creating or modifying scheduled tasks.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-7222 — 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-2016-7222 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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