CVE-2025-21198: Microsoft High Performance Compute (HPC) Pack Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Overview

Severity
Critical (CVSS 9)
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
Category
Remote Code Execution
Exploit Status
Not Exploited
Exploitation Likelihood
Less Likely
Patch Tuesday
2025-Feb
Released
2025-02-11
EPSS Score
0.17% (percentile: 37.6%)

FAQ

According to the CVSS metric, the attack vector is adjacent (AV:A) and privileges required are low (PR:L). What does that mean for this vulnerability? Multiple networking topologies are available to connect High Performance Compute (HPC) resources which are reliant upon intra-nets or private networks and do not expose HPC resources to the public internet regardless of implementation. An attacker must have access to the network connecting the targeted clusters and nodes (PR:L) and must send a specially crafted HTTPS request to the head node (AV:A) to successfully exploit this vulnerability. For more information on how HPC resources can be connected, please reference this documentation regarding Understanding HPC Cluster Network Topologies. According to the CVSS metric, the scope is changed (S:C). What does that mean for this vulnerability? An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted HTTPS request to the targeted head node or Linux compute node granting them the ability to perform RCE on other clusters or nodes connected to the targeted head node.

Affected Products (2)

Azure

  • Microsoft HPC Pack 2019
  • Microsoft HPC Pack 2016

Security Updates (1)

Acknowledgments

Anonymous

Revision History

  • 2025-02-11: Information published.