CVE-2025-21293: Active Directory Domain Services Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Overview

Severity

High (CVSS 8.8)

CVSS Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Category

Elevation of Privilege

Exploit Status

Not Exploited

Exploitation Likelihood

Less Likely

Patch Tuesday

2025-Jan

Released

2025-01-14

Last Updated

2025-09-09

EPSS Score

75.83% (percentile: 98.9%)

FAQ

What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges. How could an attacker exploit this vulnerability? To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system.

Detection & Weaponization (2 sources)

Maturity: Exploit

• Metasploit modules: Windows Escalate Service Permissions Local Privilege Escalation
• GitHub PoC: 1 repositories

Affected Products (31)

Windows

• Windows 10 Version 1809 for 32-bit Systems
• Windows 10 Version 1809 for x64-based Systems
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2022 (Server Core installation)
• Windows 10 Version 21H2 for 32-bit Systems
• Windows 10 Version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems
• Windows 10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems
• Windows Server 2025 (Server Core installation)
• Windows 11 Version 23H2 for ARM64-based Systems
• Windows 11 Version 23H2 for x64-based Systems
• Windows Server 2022, 23H2 Edition (Server Core installation)
• Windows 11 Version 24H2 for ARM64-based Systems
• Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems
• Windows Server 2025
• Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems
• Windows 10 for x64-based Systems
• Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems
• Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems
• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)

ESU

• Windows 11 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems
• Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems
• Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems
• Windows 10 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems
• Windows 10 Version 22H2 for 32-bit Systems
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)

Security Updates (11)

• 5050008
• 5049983
• 5049981
• 5050021
• 5065426
• 5065474
• 5049984
• 5050013
• 5049993
• 5050004
• 5050048

Acknowledgments

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-b-a5177999/">Sebastian Sadeq Birke</a> with <a href="https://retest.dk/">ReTest Security ApS</a>

Revision History

• 2025-01-14: Information published.
• 2025-09-09: To comprehensively address CVE-2025-21293, Microsoft has released September 2025 security update KB5065426 for Windows Server 2025, Windows Server 2025 (Server Core installation), Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems, and Windows 11 Version 24H2 for ARM64-based Systems. Microsoft recommends that customers install the updates to be fully protected from the vulnerability. Customers whose systems are configured to receive automatic updates do not need to take any further action. For customers running these versions of Windows and who install the HotPatch updates, Microsoft has released Hotpatch KB5065474. Customers who install the HotPatch updates should install KB5065474 to be protected from this vulnerability.