CVE-2016-0189

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 2022-03-28), 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

Also known asEUVD-2016-0226 (ENISA EUVD) · GHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r (GitHub Security Advisories)Source: ENISA EUVD

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: 94%CVSS: 7.5Exploit: Metasploit · other public PoCExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

The Microsoft (1) JScript 5.8 and (2) VBScript 5.7 and 5.8 engines, as used in Internet Explorer 9 through 11 and other products, allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted web site, aka "Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability," a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-0187.

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
94%
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
94% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-11-01). 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, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: 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.

The score's inputs: 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-2016-0189

Published

May 11, 2016

Last Modified

June 17, 2026

Advisory Details (6)

Auto-updated Nov 2, 2026
⚠️ Actively exploited (CISA KEV, CISA Vulnrichment). Patch available.
Web page

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS16-053 - Critical | Microsoft Learn

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-053
Web page

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS16-051 - Critical | Microsoft Learn

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2016/ms16-051
Web page

PSIRT.COM — Product Security Incident Response Team

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/90012
Web page🟡 PoC Available

Virus Bulletin :: The journey and evolution of God Mode in 2016: CVE-2016-0189

https://www.virusbulletin.com/virusbulletin/2017/01/journey-and-evolution-god-mode-2016-cve-2016-0189/
Web page🟡 PoC Available

Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 (Windows 10) - VBScript Memory Corruption (MS16-051) - Windows local Exploit

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40118/

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2016-0189(1)

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

Weakness Classification(2)

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

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 21× in last 7d / 169× 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 1,753 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 1,653 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.

  1. 2026-11-02 00:14 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-11-02 00:14 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-11-02 00:14 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  4. 2026-11-01 01:37 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-11-01 01:37 UTCVendor advisory
  6. 2026-11-01 01:37 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  7. 2026-10-31 03:01 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-10-31 03:01 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-10-31 03:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  10. 2026-10-30 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
  11. 2026-10-30 04:23 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-10-30 04:23 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-10-30 04:23 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  14. 2026-10-29 05:46 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-10-29 05:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  16. 2026-10-28 07:10 UTCEG score recompute
  17. 2026-10-28 07:10 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-10-28 07:10 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  19. 2026-10-27 08:33 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-10-27 08:33 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-10-27 08:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  22. 2026-10-26 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
  23. 2026-10-26 09:55 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  24. 2026-10-25 19:50 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-10-25 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-10-25 11:19 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-10-25 11:19 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-10-25 11:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  4. 2026-10-24 12:42 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-10-24 12:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  6. 2026-10-23 14:01 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-10-23 14:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  8. 2026-10-22 15:23 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  9. 2026-10-21 16:46 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-10-21 16:46 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-10-21 16:45 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  12. 2026-10-21 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
  13. 2026-10-20 18:08 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-10-20 18:08 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  15. 2026-10-19 19:30 UTCEG score recompute
  16. 2026-10-19 19:30 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-10-19 19:29 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  18. 2026-10-18 20:49 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-10-18 20:49 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-10-18 20:49 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  21. 2026-10-18 10:57 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-10-17 22:11 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-10-17 22:11 UTCVendor advisory
  24. 2026-10-17 22:11 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  25. 2026-10-16 23:32 UTCEG score recompute
  26. 2026-10-16 23:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  27. 2026-10-16 00:55 UTCEG score recompute
  28. 2026-10-16 00:55 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  29. 2026-10-15 02:16 UTCEG score recompute
  30. 2026-10-15 02:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  31. 2026-10-14 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 94% · 99th percentile
  32. 2026-10-14 03:37 UTCEG score recompute
  33. 2026-10-14 03:36 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  34. 2026-10-13 04:59 UTCVendor advisory
  35. 2026-10-13 04:59 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  36. 2026-10-12 20:48 UTCEG score recompute
  37. 2026-10-12 06:22 UTCVendor advisory
  38. 2026-10-12 06:22 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  39. 2026-10-12 02:24 UTCVendor advisory
  40. 2026-10-12 02:24 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  41. 2026-10-11 22:26 UTCEG score recompute
  42. 2026-10-11 22:26 UTCVendor advisory
  43. 2026-10-11 22:25 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  44. 2026-10-11 18:28 UTCEG score recompute
  45. 2026-10-11 18:28 UTCVendor advisory
  46. 2026-10-11 18:28 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  47. 2026-10-11 14:31 UTCEG score recompute
  48. 2026-10-11 14:31 UTCVendor advisory
  49. 2026-10-11 14:31 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  50. 2026-10-11 10:33 UTCVendor advisory
  51. 2026-10-11 10:33 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  52. 2026-10-11 06:33 UTCVendor advisory
  53. 2026-10-11 06:32 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  54. 2026-10-11 02:34 UTCVendor advisory
  55. 2026-10-11 02:33 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  56. 2026-10-10 22:34 UTCVendor advisory
  57. 2026-10-10 22:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  58. 2026-10-10 18:38 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  59. 2026-10-10 14:39 UTCVendor advisory
  60. 2026-10-10 14:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  61. 2026-10-10 10:41 UTCVendor advisory
  62. 2026-10-10 10:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  63. 2026-10-10 06:44 UTCVendor advisory
  64. 2026-10-10 06:44 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  65. 2026-10-10 02:46 UTCVendor advisory
  66. 2026-10-10 02:46 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  67. 2026-10-09 22:48 UTCVendor advisory
  68. 2026-10-09 22:48 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  69. 2026-10-09 18:50 UTCVendor advisory
  70. 2026-10-09 18:50 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  71. 2026-10-09 14:52 UTCVendor advisory
  72. 2026-10-09 14:51 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  73. 2026-10-09 10:51 UTCVendor advisory
  74. 2026-10-09 10:51 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-qw68-vqp7-ff9r · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.5
  75. 2026-10-09 06:51 UTCVendor advisory

Publicly available exploits

(4 references)

Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Metasploit module, 1 Exploit-DB entry, 2 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.

  • Metasploitexploit/windows/browser/ms16_051_vbscript✓ verified
    Published Aug 3, 2016

    Internet Explorer 11 VBScript Engine Memory Corruption

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCdeamwork/MS16-051-poc
    Published Jun 25, 2016

    对CVE-2016-0189漏洞补丁的分析

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-40118
    Published Jun 22, 2016

    Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 (Windows 10) - VBScript Memory Corruption (MS16-051)

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCtheori-io/cve-2016-0189
    Published Jun 22, 2016

    Proof-of-Concept exploit for CVE-2016-0189 (VBScript Memory Corruption in IE11)

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2016-0189?
CVE-2016-0189 is a critical-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on May 11, 2016. The Microsoft (1) JScript 5.8 and (2) VBScript 5.7 and 5.8 engines, as used in Internet Explorer 9 through 11 and other products, allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted web site, aka "Scripting Engine Memory Corruption…
When was CVE-2016-0189 made public?
CVE-2016-0189 was made public on May 10, 2016: 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 11, 2016. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of June 17, 2026; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2016-0189 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2016-0189 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on March 28, 2022, affecting Microsoft Internet Explorer. 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-2016-0189?
CVE-2016-0189 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-2016-0189?
CVE-2016-0189 affects Microsoft Internet Explorer.
How do I remediate CVE-2016-0189?
A fix for CVE-2016-0189 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2016-0189 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

Dependency Blast Radius

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2016-0189

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2016-0189?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.