CVE-2025-27472: Windows Mark of the Web Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Overview

Severity
Medium (CVSS 5.4)
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
Category
Security Feature Bypass
Exploit Status
Not Exploited
Exploitation Likelihood
More Likely
Patch Tuesday
2025-Apr
Released
2025-04-08
Last Updated
2025-04-09
EPSS Score
2.88% (percentile: 86.3%)

Description

Protection mechanism failure in Windows Mark of the Web (MOTW) allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass a security feature over a network.

FAQ

According to the CVSS metrics, successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to some loss of integrity (I:L) and some loss of availability (A:L). What does that mean for this vulnerability? An attacker can craft a malicious file that would evade Mark of the Web (MOTW) defenses, resulting in a limited loss of integrity and availability of security features such as SmartScreen Application Reputation security check and/or the legacy Windows Attachment Services security prompt. How could an attacker exploit the vulnerability? To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker could host a file on an attacker-controlled server, then convince a targeted user to download and open the file. This could allow the attacker to interfere with the Mark of the Web functionality. Please see Additional information about Mark of the Web for further clarification Are the updates for Windows 10 for x64-based Systems and Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems currently available? Yes. As of April 9, 2025, the security update (5055547) for Windows 10 for x64-based Systems and Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems are available. Customers running Windows 10 should ensure the update is installed to be protected from this vulnerability.

Affected Products (6)

Windows

  • Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 for x64-based Systems

ESU

  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)

Security Updates (3)

Acknowledgments

<a href="https://x.com/0patch">Blaz Satler</a> with <a href="https://0patch.com/">0patch by ACROS Security</a>

Revision History

  • 2025-04-08: Information published.
  • 2025-04-09: The security updates for Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems and Windows 10 for x64-based Systems are now available. See the Security Updates table for more information.