Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-0889

Beyondtrust Privilege Management For Windows ≤ 25.2

Published
26 February 2025
Modified
31 July 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v4 7.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS Score 0.0020 10th percentile
Risk Priority 29 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-0889 is a high-severity Privilege Chaining (CWE-268) vulnerability in Beyondtrust Privilege Management For Windows. Its CVSS base score is 7.2 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Access Token Manipulation (T1134); ranked at the 10th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-5 (Separation of Duties) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-0889 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in Privilege Management for Windows versions prior to 25.2. It stems from the manipulation of COM objects under certain circumstances where an EPM policy allows automatic privilege elevation of a user process. Published on 2025-02-26, the issue carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and maps to CWE-268.

A local authenticated attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability with low attack complexity and no user interaction. Exploitation enables privilege elevation on the affected system, resulting in high impacts to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

The BeyondTrust security advisory BT25-01, available at https://www.beyondtrust.com/trust-center/security-advisories/bt25-01, addresses mitigation for this vulnerability.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Prior to 25.2, a local authenticated attacker can elevate privileges on a system with Privilege Management for Windows installed, via the manipulation of COM objects under certain circumstances where an EPM policy allows for automatic privilege elevation of a user…

more

process.

CWE(s)
CWE-268

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1134 Access Token Manipulation Stealth
Adversaries may modify access tokens to operate under a different user or system security context to perform actions and bypass access controls.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.001 Setuid and Setgid Privilege Escalation
An adversary may abuse configurations where an application has the setuid or setgid bits set in order to get code running in a different (and possibly more privileged) user’s context.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may perform sudo caching and/or use the sudoers file to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-2297Same product: Beyondtrust Privilege Management For Windows
CVE-2024-25083Same product: Beyondtrust Privilege Management For Windows
CVE-2023-49944Same product: Beyondtrust Privilege Management For Windows
CVE-2024-1591Same product: Beyondtrust Privilege Management For Windows
CVE-2025-6250Same product: Beyondtrust Privilege Management For Windows
CVE-2024-47045Shared CWE-268
CVE-2024-1299Shared CWE-268
CVE-2026-3888Shared CWE-268
CVE-2023-0759Shared CWE-268
CVE-2024-4877Shared CWE-268

Affected Assets

beyondtrust
privilege management for windows
≤ 25.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 6 hardening rules · 6 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

Access enforcement can apply rules that block unsafe privilege combinations at runtime.

AC-5 Separation of Duties good match

Separation of duties directly blocks assignment of privilege combinations that enable unsafe actions.

AC-6 Least Privilege good match

Least privilege reduces the set of privileges available for dangerous chaining.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Least-privilege policy definition and enforcement directly limits unsafe privilege combinations while the control also addresses broader policy lifecycle activities.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.3 Segregation of duties mostly match
prevents

Segregation of duties reduces the chance that two distinct privileges can be combined to perform unsafe actions.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights mostly match
prevents

Restricting privileged access rights directly mitigates the risk of privilege chaining.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Access control policies can limit the combination of privileges that enable unsafe actions.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
prevents

Managing access rights helps prevent the accumulation or chaining of privileges that lead to unsafe actions.

A.8.18 Use of privileged utility programs partial match
mitigates

Controlling privileged utility programs reduces opportunities for chaining privileges to perform unsafe actions.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
prevents

Information access restriction limits the ability to combine privileges for unsafe actions.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Ubuntu 22.04 (1 rule)
  • V-260559 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-268
Ubuntu 24.04 (1 rule)
  • V-270748 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-268
Windows 10 (1 rule)
  • V-220712 Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-268
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-225007 Only administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system must have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-268
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205746 Windows Server 2019 must only allow Administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system to have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-268
Windows Server 2022 (1 rule)
  • V-254428 Windows Server 2022 must only allow administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system to have Administrator rights on the system. prevents CWE-268

References