CVE-2025-24036: Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Overview

Severity

High (CVSS 7)

CVSS Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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-Feb

Released

2025-02-11

Last Updated

2025-04-08

EPSS Score

0.11% (percentile: 29.0%)

FAQ

What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could elevate their privileges to perform commands as Root in the target environment. According to the CVSS metric, the attack complexity is high (AC:H). What does that mean for this vulnerability? Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires an attacker to win a race condition. Why is update 4.78 for Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac not available for download? Security update for Microsoft AutoUpdate 4.78 is not immediately available. The update will be released as soon as possible, and when it is available, customers will be notified via a revision to this CVE information.

Affected Products (1)

Microsoft Office

• Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac

Security Updates (1)

• Release Notes

Acknowledgments

Stéphane Emma with POST Luxembourg

Revision History

• 2025-02-11: Information published.
• 2025-03-11: To comprehensively address CVE-2025-24036, Microsoft has released a security update on March 11, 2025 for Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac. Microsoft recommends that customers install the update to be fully protected from the vulnerability. Customers whose systems are configured to receive automatic updates do not need to take any further action.
• 2025-03-11: Added an FAQ. This is an information change only.
• 2025-04-08: The security update for Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac is now available. See the Security Updates table for more information.