CVE-2018-16711
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 · uneditedIObit Advanced SystemCare, which includes Monitor_win10_x64.sys or Monitor_win7_x64.sys, 1.2.0.5 (and possibly earlier versions) allows a user to send an IOCTL (0x9C402088) with a buffer containing user defined content. The driver's subroutine will execute a wrmsr instruction with the user's buffer for input.
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 IObit Advanced SystemCare driver (Monitor_win10_x64.sys or Monitor_win7_x64.sys) version 1.2.0.5 exposes an insecure IOCTL handler (0x9C402088) that accepts user-controlled input and directly passes it to the WRMSR instruction, allowing an unprivileged local user to write to arbitrary Model Specific Registers at kernel (ring 0) privilege level, enabling complete system compromise.
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 data<= 1.2.0.5CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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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Confirm IObit Advanced SystemCare installationSearch for the program in C:\Program Files\IObit or C:\Program Files (x86)\IObit, or check Add/Remove Programs for IObit Advanced SystemCareAffected if IObit Advanced SystemCare is installed on the system
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Locate the Monitor driver filesSearch for files named Monitor_win10_x64.sys or Monitor_win7_x64.sys in the IObit installation directory, typically under C:\Program Files\IObit\Advanced SystemCare or C:\Windows\System32\driversAffected if The Monitor_win10_x64.sys or Monitor_win7_x64.sys driver files exist on the system
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Check driver file versionRight-click each Monitor driver file, select Properties, then view the Details tab to find the Product Version, or use PowerShell: (Get-Item 'C:\path\to\Monitor_win10_x64.sys').VersionInfo.ProductVersionAffected if The driver file version is 1.2.0.5 or lower
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Verify driver is loaded and runningOpen an elevated command prompt and run: sc query Monitor or check Device Manager under View > Show hidden devices > Non-plug and Play Drivers for Monitor driver entriesAffected if The Monitor driver is currently loaded or running on the system
A user is affected if IObit Advanced SystemCare with driver version 1.2.0.5 or lower is installed and the Monitor driver is loaded on the system.
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 vendor patches from IObit when available, or remove/disable the vulnerable Advanced SystemCare driver if no patch is available; alternatively, consider removing the entire Advanced SystemCare application if the driver is non-essential.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-16711 — 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-2018-16711 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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- 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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