CVE-2025-47991: Windows Input Method Editor (IME) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Overview

Severity
High (CVSS 7.8)
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
Category
Elevation of Privilege
Exploit Status
Not Exploited
Exploitation Likelihood
Unlikely
Patch Tuesday
2025-Jul
Released
2025-07-08
EPSS Score
0.11% (percentile: 29.6%)

Description

Use after free in Microsoft Input Method Editor (IME) allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.

FAQ

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. What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could elevate from a low integrity level up to a medium integrity level. According to the CVSS metric, a successful exploitation could lead to a scope change (S:C). What does this mean for this vulnerability? In this case, successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to perform remote code execution resulting in a Sandbox escape in the imebroker COM (Component Object Model) object.

Affected Products (25)

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 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

Security Updates (7)

Acknowledgments

R4nger with CyberKunLun & Zhiniang Peng with HUST

Revision History

  • 2025-07-08: Information published.